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Abbott,  Lyman,  1835-1922. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  witii  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/henrywardbeech1903abbo 


HE^JSTRY  WARD 
BEECHER 


By  LYlVIAlSr   ABBOTT 


BOSTON   AND   NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 

(Cbe  0itoEr?iDe  ^re?j^,  Cambribge 

1903 


COPYRIGHT    1903    BY    LYMAN    ABBOTT 
ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


Published  November  igos 


TO  PLYMOUTH   CHURCH 

m  APPRECIATION^  OF  THE  KINDLY  WELCOME 
AND  CORDIAL  SUPPORT  EXTENDED  TO  ME, 
WHEN,  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  IHR.  BEECHER,  I  WAS 
CALLED  TO  SUCCEED  HIM  IN  THE  PASTORATE, 
THIS   VOLUME  IS    GRATEFULLY  DEDICATED. 


INTRODUCTORY 

In  1854  I  entered  the  law  office  of  my  brothers  in 
New  York  City,  and  went  to  live  with  the  older  of 
them  in  Brookljra.  He  was  attending  Plymouth 
Church  and  I  naturally  went  there  with  him.  He 
was  a  son  of  New  England,  a  Puritan,  though  of 
liberal  temper,  and  a  Webster  Whig,  and  therefore 
originally  had  a  triple  prejudice  against  the  young 
preacher  who  had  recently  come  to  Brooldyn,  and 
who  was  in  manner  a  Westerner,  and  in  theology 
and  politics  a  radical.  But  my  brother  had  char- 
acteristically resolved  to  listen  to  six  successive 
sermons  from  the  preacher  before  finally  deciding 
about  him,  and,  as  a  result,  was  already  a  sympa- 
thetic listener  and  a  devoted  friend.  I  was  not  yet 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  the  defects  and  the  excel- 
lences of  Mr.  Beecher  appealed  alike  to  my  boyish 
nature  :  his  exuberant  life,  his  startling  audacity, 
his  dramatic  oratory,  his  passionate  fire,  his  flashes 
of  humor,  his  native  boyishness,  aU  combined  to 
fascinate  me.  But  this  superficial  enthusiasm  soon 
gave  place  to  a  deeper  feeling.  I  had  constructed 
for  myself  a  crude  theology,  doubtless  largely  bor- 


viii  INTRODUCTORY 

rowed  from  others,  but  for  wliicli  I  ouglit  not  to 
make  others  responsible.  That  theology  may  be 
briefly  described  in  a  sentence  thus :  I  had  in- 
herited from  a  depraved  ancestry  a  depraved  na- 
ture ;  I  had  broken  the  laws  of  God,  and  deserved 
punishment ;  God  was  a  just  God,  and  justice 
compelled  him  to  insist  on  the  penalty ;  but  Christ 
had  borne  the  penalty  that  the  law  might  be  justi- 
fied and  still  God's  justice  maintained  ;  if  I  accepted 
Christ  as  my  Saviour,  the  law  would  be  honored, 
God  could  be  merciful,  and  I  could  be  released 
from  the  penalty.  For  me,  religion  was  acceptance 
of  this  mercy,  and  obedience  to  the  laws  which  I 
had  before  disobeyed ;  the  Bible  was  the  source  of 
my  knowledge  of  those  laws ;  the  Holy  Spirit  was 
a  helper  to  enable  me  to  keep  them.  I  was  afraid 
of  God,  I  was  attracted  to  Christ,  and,  partly  im- 
pelled by  the  fear,  and  partly  inspired  by  aspiration, 
I  wished  to  listen  to  conscience^  to  obey  the  law, 
to  do  my  duty;  but  I  had  no  assurance  that  I 
could,  or  perhaps  I  should  rather  say,  that  I  would 
do  either  persistently. 

Mr.  Beecher  revolutionized  my  theology  by 
revolutionizing  my  life.  I  obtained  through  him  a 
new  experience  of  God,  of  Christ,  of  salvation,  of 
religion :  I  began  to  see  that  Jesus  Christ  was 
what  God  eternally  is,  that  his  laws  are  the  laws 


INTRODUCTORY  ix 

of  my  own  nature ;  that  I  have  not  more  truly  in- 
herited disease  than  health,  depravity  than  virtue, 
from  my  ancestors  ;  that  salvation  is  life,  and  that 
Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to  give  me  life ; 
that  God  is  my  Father  and  my  Friend,  and  that 
my  fellowship  may  be  with  him ;  that  the  Bible  is 
the  record  of  the  experiences  of  men  who  knew  him 
and  his  love  and  his  fellowship,  and  who  narrated 
their  experiences  that  others  might  share  them  ; 
that  religion  is  not  the  obedience  of  a  reluctant  soul 
to  law,  but  the  glad  captivity  of  a  loyal  soul  to  the 
best  of  all  loved  friends.  As  this  new  life  was 
born  in  me,  there  was  born  also  in  me  the  strong 
desire  to  impart  it  to  others  ;  and  after  long  hesi- 
tation, and  much  debate  with  myseK,  I  abandoned 
the  profession  of  the  law  in  which,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  I  was  already  successfully  engaged  as 
a  member  of  the  New  York  bar,  thanks  to  my  two 
older  brothers  with  whom  I  was  associated.  After 
a  year  of  special  study,  with  some  accompanying 
experience  in  preaching  to  a  village  congregation  in 
Maine,  I  gave  myself  to  the  work  of  the  Christian 
ministry.  From  that  day  to  this  my  desire  has  been 
by  voice  and  pen  to  give  to  others  the  life  which 
had  been  given  to  me  when  I  learned  that  God  is 
love  and  Jesus  Christ  is  love's  interpreter,  and 
therefore  God's  interpreter. 


X  INTRODUCTORY 

In  1858  I  left  Brooklyn,  and  therefore  Plymouth 
Church,  and  did  not  return  until  1887,  when,  on 
Mr.  Beecher's  death,  I  became  his  successor.  Dur- 
ing those  nearly  thirty  years  of  absence  from 
Brooklyn,  I  rarely  heard  Mr.  Beecher  preach  or 
lecture.  I  was  at  one  time  intimately  associated 
witl>cihim  in  preparing  a  special  edition  of  his  ser- 
mons, and  in  the  work  of  preparation  examined 
with  care  several  hundred  of  them  ;  and  later  I 
was  in  constant  fellowship  with  him  as  his  asso- 
ciate in  the  editorship  of  "  The  Christian  Union." 
But  during  these  years  I  was  less  a  pupil  of  Mr. 
Beecher  than  a  critical  student  of  his  work.  For 
guidance  and  inspiration  I  went  less  to  him  than 
to  those  to  whom  he  had  gone :  first  of  all  to  the 
Four  Gospels  ;  next,  to  the  Epistles  of  Paul ;  then 
to  those  teachers  in  the  Church,  from  Clement  of 
Alexandria  to  Robertson  and  Maurice,  who  had 
seen  in  religion  a  life  rather  than  a  law,  in  God  a 
Friend  rather  than  a  Judge,  and  in  salvation  char- 
acter rather  than  destiny.  I  went  back  also  to  the  in- 
structors of  my  childhood.  I  read  again  my  father's 
"  Young  Christian,"  from  which  I  had  received  the 
first  conscious  impulse  which  any  voice  or  pen  had 
given  me  to  the  Christian  life.  I  followed  the  clue 
which  Mr.  Beecher  had  given  me,  and  I  lived  and 
honored  him  none  the  less  for  the  discovery  that 


INTRODUCTORY  xi 

the  Ciiurcli  had  never  been  without  witnesses  to  a 
faith  and  life  like  his.  That  faith  and  life  were 
not  new  except  as  the  song  of  every  bird  is  new, 
though  the  same  note  has  been  sung  by  a  thousand 
ancestors.  But  they  were  new  to  me  when  in  «i^^j 
youth  I  heard  them  and  accepted  them  in  Plymtv^tii 
Church.  To  Mr.  Beecher  I  am  indebted  for  a  ^cw 
interpretation  of  and  a  new  impulse  to  the  life  of 
faith  and  hope  and  love.  So,  when  the  publishers 
of  this  volume  asked  me  to  prepare  it,  I  acceded 
to  their  request  in  the  hope  that  it  might  serve  to 
bring  to  others,  through  the  story  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
life,  that  conception  of  Christian  truth  and  that 
experience  of  Christian  faith  which  Mr.  Beecher 
had  brought  to  me.  Nearly  half  a  century  has 
passed  since  from  the  young  preacher  of  Brooklyn 
I  received  the  impulse  which  sent  me  into  the  min- 
istry, the  message  which  subsequent  study  has  done 
much  to  develop,  but  nothing  to  contradict,  and  the 
faith  which  life  has  never  disappointed,  but  has 
constantly  enlarged  and  enriched.  That  half  cen- 
tury has  been  largely  spent  with  other  masters,  and 
I  believe  that  I  am  now  far  enough  from  the  spell 
of  Mr.  Beecher's  personal  presence  to  estimate 
justly  his  life  and  character.  Certainly  this  volume 
will  not  be  coldly  critical ;  I  do  not  mean  that  it 
shall  be  indiscriminately  eulogistic. 


xu  INTRODUCTORY 

Generally  the  preface  to  a  volume  is  tlie  portion 
last  written.  Before  I  set  pen  to  paper  on  the 
substance  of  this  volume,  I  write  this  preface  to 
make  clear  to  myself,  and  I  hope  also  to  others,  my 
purpose.  It  is  not  to  tell  the  full  story  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  personal  life  :  that  has  already  been  done 
by  his  wife  and  son  and  son-in-law,  in  a  volume 
which  is  essentially  autobiographical  and  to  which 
I  could  add  nothing.  It  is  not  to  write  the  life 
and  times  of  Mr.  Beecher :  he  was  so  identified 
with  all  the  great  events  of  his  time  that  to  write 
such  a  volume  would  be  to  write  the  history  of  the 
United  States  in  what  is  perhaps  the  most  critical 
and  certainly  the  most  dramatic  period  of  the  na- 
tional life.  In  this  volume,  I,  his  friend,  who 
gladly  acknowledge  my  own  indebtedness  to  him, 
seek  to  interpret  the  life  and  character  of  a  man  of 
great  spiritual  and  intellectual  genius,  whose  faults 
were  superficial,  whose  virtues  were  profound, 
whose  influence  will  outlive  his  fame,  and  who  has 
probably  done  more  to  change  directly  the  religious 
life,  and  indirectly  the  theological  thought  in  Amer- 
ica than  any  preacher  since  Jonathan  Edwards. 

LYMAN   ABBOTT. 

CORNWALL-ON-HUDSON,  N.  Y. 


CONTENTS 


PAOE 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Meaning  of  Mr.  Beecher's  Life 1 

CHAPTER  n 
The  Making  of  the  Man 16 

CHAPTER  in 
Early  Ministry 39 

CHAPTER  IV 
PiiYmouth  Church 72 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Pastor  of  Plyiviouth  Church 100 

CHAPTER  VI 

Parenthetical 133 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Anti-Slavery  Reformer 156 

CHAPTER  Vni 
The  Anti-Slavery  Campaign 195 

CHAPTER  IX 
The  Civil  War 223 

CHAPTER  X 
The  Campaign  in  England 244 

CHAPTER  XI 
Reconstruction 204 


av  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  xn 
Under  Accusation 288 

CHAPTER  Xni 
Later  Ministry 300 

CHAPTER  XIV 
Editor  and  Author 328 

CHAPTER  XV 
The  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching 353 

CHAPTER   XVI 
He  finishes  his  Course 374 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Estimates  and  Impressions 386 

APPENDIX 
Mr.  Beecher's  Analysis  of  Romans,  Chap.  vn.   .    .    .  422 

Mr.  Beecher's  Theological  Statement 429 

Index 451 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAQE 

Henry  Ward  Beecher Frontispiece 

From  a  photograph  by  George  G.  Roekwood.     This  is 
believed  to  be  the  latest  portrait. 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  and 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 30 

From  a  photograph  taken  about  1861. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher 1G2 

From  a  dag'uerreotype  taken  by  Irving  about  1851.    By 
courtesy  of  George  G.  Roekwood. 
Copies  op  English  Incendiary  Placards  against  Mr. 

Beecher  in  1863 253 

Facsimile  Letter  from  Mr.  Beecher  to  Dr.  Lyman 
Abbott 410 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

[Prepared  by  Rev.  W.  E.  Davenport.] 

Cincinnati  Journal.  Edited  in  part  by  Henry  Ward 
Beeeher.     Cincinnati,  O.,  1836-37. 

Sermon  on  the  Occasion  of  the  Funeral  of  Noah  Noble, 
late  Governor  of  Indiana,     pp.  27.    Indianapolis,  1844. 

Seven  Lectures  for  Young  Men.  Indianapolis,  1844; 
Salem,  1846  ;  Boston,  1849,  '51,  '53,  '55,  '63,  '65,  '68,  and 
'69  ;  New  York,  1851,  '53,  '60,  '73,  '79,  '81,  '84,  '93,  '98  ; 
London,  England,  1851,  and  many  reprints  ;  Philadelphia, 
as  Industry  and  Idleness,  1850.  Copyright  expired  1895, 
and  since  that  published  by  Henry  Altemus,  Philadelphia. 

A  Dissuasive  from  Moral  Intolerance.  Address  by 
Henry  Ward  Beeeher,  at  Bloomington,  Ind.  Indianapolis, 
1845. 

Indiana  Farmer  and  Gardener.  Edited  by  Mr.  Beeeher. 
Indianapolis,  1845.     24  numbers. 

Western  Farmer  and  Gardener.  Henry  Ward  Beeeher, 
Editor,  1846.     Indianapolis,  24  numbers. 

A  Discourse  Delivered  at  Plymouth  Church,  Thanksgiving 
Day,  November  25,  1847.  Cady  &  Burgess  :  60  John  St., 
New  York,  1848. 

Address  before  the  Society  for  Promoting  Collegiate  Edu- 
cation in  the  West.     (In  annual  report  of  Society,  1848.) 

Plymouth  Church  Manual.  New  York,  1848,  '50,  '54,  '67, 
'74.  One  in  1848  and  one  in  1850  printed  by  Henry  Speer, 
78  Wall  St.,  by  vote  of  the  Church. 

The  Independent,  Star  Contributor,  beginning  October  18, 
1849. 

Sermon  for  Thanksgiving  Day.  Hunt's  Merchant  Maga- 
zine, December  12,  1850.     New  York,  1851. 

Two  Papers  on  Politics  and  the  Pulpit.    New  York,  1851. 


xviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

National  Anti-Slavery  Standard  (Sermons  and  Addresses 
in).    New  York,  1851. 

On  the  Choice  of  a  Profession.  Address  by  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.     1851. 

Book  of  Eloquence,  by  Charles  Dudley  Warner.  Selections 
from  H.  W.  B.     Cazenovia,  1853. 

Pulpit  Portraits  of  American  Preachers,  by  John  R.  Dix. 
Chapter  on  H.  W.  B.,  with  portrait.     Boston,  1854. 

Off-hand  Takings;  or,  Crayon  Sketches  of  Noticeable  Men 
of  Our  Age,  by  G.  W.  Bungay.  (Article  on  H.  W.  B.,  and 
portrait.)     New  York,  1854. 

Autographs  of  Freedom.  (Includes  portraits  of  and 
sketches  by  Lewis  Tappan,  H.  B.  Stowe,  and  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.)     Auburn  and  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  1854. 

Star  Papers.  J.  C.  Derby:  New  York,  1855,  '59.  En- 
larged edition,  1873. 

The  American  Portrait  Gallery.  (Portrait  and  Sketch 
H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1855. 

The  Plymouth  Collection  of  Hymns  and  Tunes.  Preface 
H.  W.  B.  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.:  New  York,  1855,  '56,  '59, 
'62,  '67,  '68,  '83. 

Bartlett's  Distinguished  Modern  Agitators.  (Article  on 
H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1855. 

Fowler's  American  Pulpit.  (Includes  able  article  on 
H.  W.  B.)    New  York,  1856. 

Man  and  his  Institutions.  An  address  to  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Collegiate  Education  in  the  West.  Delivered  in 
Boston,  May  28,  1856.  American  Journal  of  Education, 
July,  1856.     Republished,  New  York,  1856. 

Defence  of  Kansas.  By  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  1856.     Buell  &  Blanchard,  printers. 

Banner  of  Light.  Includes  sermons  by  H.  W.  B.  Boston, 
1856. 

Social  Reform  Tracts,  No.  5.  The  Strange  Woman  of  the 
Scriptures  described  and  the  young  cautioned  of  her  wiles 
and  of  their  dangers,  being  a  lecture  addressed  to  young  men 
by  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  U.  S.  (brother  of  Mrs. 
Stowe).  Edited  by  J.  Harding.  London:  Simpkin,  Mar- 
shall &  Co.,  1857. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xix 

Inquirer  and  Chronicle.  Includes  sermons  by  H.  W.  B. 
New  York,  1857. 

American  National  Preacher,  No.  1,  vol.  xxxi.  Sermon 
by  H.  W.  B.,  on  Christ  Knocking  at  the  Door  of  the  Heart, 
January,  1857.     New  York,  1857. 

The  Baptist  Collection.  Being  the  Plymouth  Collection 
adapted  for  Baptist  use.     New  York,  1857. 

Social  Reform  Tracts,  No.  6.  The  Home  of  the  Harlot, 
its  description,  character,  and  tendencies  as  seen  under  the 
Scripture  lamp ;  being  the  concluding  part  of  the  celebrated 
lectures  to  young  men  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
(U.  S.),  brother  of  Mrs.  Stowe.  Edited  by  J.  Harding.  Lon- 
don :  Simpkin  &  Marshall,  1857. 

Life  Thoughts.  Extracts  from  extemporaneous  discourses, 
edited  by  Edna  Dean  Proctor.  Boston,  1858,  '59  (30th 
thousand).  Large  paper  edition,  1860;  London,  1860;  New 
York,  1860,  '69,  '71,  '80. 

Life  Thoughts.  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Complete  edi- 
tion. London,  1858 :  Hamilton  &  Adams  Co.  Alexan- 
der Strahan  &  Co.  :  Edinburgh,  1859. 

Life  Thoughts,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  with  a  biograph- 
ical sketch,     London :  Simpkin,  Marshall  &  Co.,  1863. 

Life  Thoughts,  gathered  from  the  extemporaneous  dis- 
courses of  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  London:  Wardlock  & 
Tyler,  Warwick  House,  Paternoster  Row. 

God's  Seal  and  Covenant,  with  a  list  of  members  of  Ply- 
mouth Church.     Brooklyn,  1858. 

Revival  Hymns,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Boston:  Phil- 
lips, Sampson  &  Co.,  1858. 

Letter  to  Messrs.  Brown  &  Co.,  Boston,  recommending 
the  torches  manufactured  by  them.     1858. 

The  New  York  Ledger  (many  contributions).  New  York, 
1858. 

The  Power  of  the  Spirit,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Lon- 
don, 38  Ludgate  Hill. 

Men's  Excuses  for  not  becoming  Christians,  and  Discour- 
agements of  the  Christian  Life.  Two  sermons  by  Henry 
Ward  Beecher,  with  portrait.     New  York,  1858. 

How  to  become  a  Christian.  A  tract  for  the  times. 
Boston. 


XX  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

How  to  become  a  Christian,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecber. 
New  York,  1858,  '62  ;  Brooklyn,  1862.  Revised  by  the 
author,  and  published  by  the  American  Tract  Society  of 
Boston,  117  Washington  St. 

A  Narrative  of  Remarkable  Incidents,  by  W.  C.  Conant, 
with  introduction  by  H.  W.  B.  Derby  &  Jackson:  New  York. 

Sermons  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher  (12rao).  One  sermon 
in  each  number,  published  weekly.  London:  J.  Heaton, 
Norwich  Lane,  Paternoster  Row,  1859. 

The  Telegraph  and  Fireside  Preacher.  (Includes  sermons 
by  H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1859. 

Memorial  of  the  Revival  in  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn, 
in  1858,  comprising  incidents  and  fragments  of  lectures  and 
sermons  by  the  pastor.  By  a  member  of  the  Church.  New 
York,  1859. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  Theo- 
dore Parker.     Boston,  1859.     pp.  15. 

Articles  on  T.  Parker  ;  An  Explanation  of  Views  on  Total 
Depravity.  Printed  by  authority  of  the  Fraternity  Course 
Lectures  Society,  Boston.     A.  Williams  &  Co.,  1859. 

Notes  from  Plymouth  Pulpit.  A  collection  of  memorable 
passages  from  the  discourses  of  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
with  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Beecher  and  of  the  Lecture-room.  By 
Augusta  Moore.  New  York:  Derby  &  Jackson,  1859.  New 
edition  greatly  enlarged.  Harper  &  Bros.,  1865. 

Pulpit  and  Rostrum.  (Includes  sermons  by  Mr.  Beecher.) 
New  York,  1859. 

Who  is  our  God  :  the  Son  or  the  Father  ?  By  Rev.  Thos. 
J.  Sawyer.  A  reply  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher's  articles  on 
Theo.  Parker. 

Vagabondia,  by  Adam  Badeau.  (Includes  articles  on 
H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1859. 

Chronicle  of  the  Hundredth  Birthday  of  Robert  Burns. 
(Includes  oration  by  H.  W.  B.)     Edinburgh,  1859. 

Plain  and  Pleasant  Talk  about  Fruits,  Flowers,  and 
Farming,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Derby  &  Jackson :  New 
York,  1859;  Boston:  Brown,  Taggard  &  Chase,  25  &  29 
Cornhill,  1859  ;  London,  1859. 

Pleasant  Talk  about  Fruits,  Flowers,  and   Farming,  by 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxi 

Henry  W.  Beecher.  New  edition,  with  additional  matter 
from  recent  writings,  published  and  unpublished.  J.  B. 
Ford  &  Co. :  New  York,  1874. 

New  Star  Papers;  or,  Views  and  Experiences  of  Religious 
Subjects.  Derby  &  Jackson :  New  York,  1859,  '69.  Pub- 
lished as  Summer  of  the  Soul,  London. 

Address  on  Mental  Culture  for  Women,  by  H.  W.  B. 
and  James  T.  Brady,  in  Pulpit  and  Rostrum.  New  York, 
1859. 

Echoes  from  Harper's  Ferry,  by  James  Redpath.  Includes 
pp.  257-279,  sermon  by  H.  W.  B.  preached  in  Plymouth 
Church,  Sunday  evening,  October  30,  1859. 

Italian  Independence,  by  J.  P.  Thompson.  (Includes  ad- 
dress by  H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1860. 

Woman's  Influence  in  Politics.  An  address  in  New  York, 
February  2,  1860.     Boston,  1860,  '69,  '71. 

Civil  War  :  Its  Causes,  its  Consequences,  its  Crimes,  and 
its  Compromises.  Series  No,  1,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
and  Archbishop  Hughes.  Published  by  Reuben  Vose,  New 
York,  1851.  8vo.  pp.  about  24.  Pamphlet  appeal  against 
Mr.  Beecher  and  in  favor  of  stopping  "  this  horrid  war  "  ; 
quotes  from  Mr.  Beecher's  addresses. 

Remarks  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  at  the  funeral  of  Ed- 
ward Corning,  Plymouth  Church,  Thursday  afternoon,  Janu- 
ary 31,  1861.     For  private  circulation. 

War  and  Emancipation.  A  Thanksgiving  Sermon 
preached  in  Plymouth  Church,  November  21,  1861.  Phila- 
delphia, 1861. 

The  Independent.  Edited  by  H.  W.  B.,  December  19, 
1861,  to  December  21,  1862. 

The  Love  Element  of  the  Gospel.  H.  W.  B.  Printed  at 
request  of  Father  Cleveland,  Boston. 

Crime  and  its  Remedy.  H.  W.  B.  Issued  by  the  Howard 
Association,  London. 

Fast-Day  Sermons  ;  or.  The  Pulpit  on  the  State  of  the 
Country.  Peace  be  Still.  H.  W.  B.  pp.  265-292  ;  Rudd 
&  Carlton:  New  York,  1861. 

Sermon  before  the  Thirty-fourth  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  Pub- 
lished with  the  Proceedings.     New  York,  1862. 


xxii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Eyes  and  Ears,  from  the  New  York  Ledger.  Boston,  1862  ; 
London,  1862  ;  Boston,  1863  ;  (3d  edition)  Boston,  1866, 
'67 ;  New  York,  1887.  Printed  in  England  as  Royal 
Truths. 

Eyes  and  Ears,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher  (author  of  Life 
Thoughts).     London:  Sampson  &  Co.,  1862. 

The  Methodist.  (Includes  sermons  by  H.  W.  B.)  New 
York,  1862. 

Royal  Truths,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  (6th  thousand.) 
Alexander  Strahan  &  Co.:  Edinburgh;  Hamilton  Adam  & 
Co.:  London,  1862. 

Freedom  and  War.  Discourses  on  Topics  Suggested  by 
the  Times.     Boston :  Ticknor  &  Fields,  1863. 

American  Cause  in  England.  Address  at  Manchester, 
England,  October,  1863.  James  Redpath,  Boston,  1863  ; 
New  York,  1863. 

American  Rebellion.  Report  of  Speeches  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  delivered  in  England  at  Public  Meetings  in  Man- 
chester, Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  Liverpool,  and  London;  and 
at  the  farewell  breakfasts  in  London,  etc.  Manchester, 
England,  1864  ;  London,  1864. 

Sermons  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  (15  nos.)  London: 
J.  Heaton  &  Son,  42  Paternoster  Row,  E.  C,  1864. 

Sermons  of  H.  W.  Beecher.  2  vols,  Dickinson:  London, 
1864. 

Aids  to  Prayer.    New  York:  A.  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co., 

1864,  '66,  '87. 

Our  Minister  Plenipotentiary,  by  O.  W.  Holmes,  in  The 
Atlantic  Monthly.    Boston,  1864. 

Universal  Suffrage.  An  Argument  by  H.  W.  Beecher, 
including  report  of  conference  between  Secretary  Stanton, 
General  Sherman,  and  Freedmen  in  Savannah.  Delivered  in 
Plymouth  Church,  Sunday  evening,  February  2,  1865. 
Printed  by  William  E.  Whiting,  New  York,  1865. 

Trip  of  the  Oceanus.     Address  at  Fort  Sumter,  April  14, 

1865.  New  York,  1865.     Also  reprinted  as  an  Old  South 
Leaflet,  Boston. 

Sermon  on  Lincoln's  Death.     New  York,  1865. 
Universal  Suffrage  and  Complete  Equality  in  Citizenship. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxui 

Discourses  by  H.  W.  Beecher,  Andrew  Johnson,  and  Wen- 
dell Phillips.     Boston,  1865. 

Reports  of  the  New  England  Society  of  New  York.  (In- 
clude addresses  by  H.  W.  B.)  See  Reports  for  1866,  '67, 
'71,  '72,  '73,  '74,  and  '83. 

Presentation  Memorial  to  Workingmen.  Oration  at  the 
raising  of  the  old  flag  at  Sumter,  and  sermon  on  the  death 
of  Lincoln,  with  sketch  of  Lincoln.  Manchester,  England, 
1865. 

Letter  to  the  Soldiers  and  Sailors.     New  York,  1866. 

The  Political  Status  of  Women,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
in  The  Friend,  vol.  i.  New  York,  1866. 

Address  at  the  Anniversary  of  the  American  Missionary 
Association,  1866. 

595  Pulpit  Pungencies.  G.  W.  Carleton:  New  York,  1866  ; 
London,  1866. 

Address  at  National  Woman's  Rights  Convention,  May  10, 
1866.  Reprinted  as  Woman's  Duty  to  Vote,  1866.  Re- 
printed, 1898. 

The  Methodist.  Has  fortnightly  sermons  by  H.  W.  B. 
New  York,  December  8,  ^66,  to  February  13,  '69. 

Norwood,  a  novel  (from  New  York  Ledger).  New  York, 
3  vols.,  by  Scribners,  1867,  '68,  '80,  '91.  J.  B.  Ford,  1874 
and  1898;  London,  1867;  Sampson,  Low  &  Co.,  1887. 

Address  at  Laying  Corner-stone  of  Adefphi  Academy, 
Brooklyn.     Brooklyn,  1867. 

On  Health.  An  Address  delivered  before  the  New  York 
Medical  Students'  Union,  Brooklyn.     Brooklyn,  1867. 

Royal  Truths,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Boston  :  Tick- 
nor  &  Fields,  1867. 

Prayers  from  Plymouth  Pulpit.  Stenographically  re- 
ported. A.  C.  Armstrong  :  New  York,  1867  ;  Scribners' 
seventh  edition,  1868  .  Armstrong,  1895. 

Famous  Americans,  by  James  Parton.  Chapter  on 
H.  W.  B.  and  his  Church.     1867. 

Article  on  Plymouth  Church,  The  Atlantic  Monthly,  Bos- 
ton, 1867. 

Sermons  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Edited  by  Lyman 
Abbott.     2  vols.     Harper  &  Bros. :  New  York,  1868. 


XXIV 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Prayers  in  the  Congregation,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
D.  D.     Strahan  &  Co.:  58  Ludgate  Hill,  London,  1868. 

Putnam's  Magazine  (sketch  of  H.  W.  B.).  New  York, 
1868. 

Sunshine  and  Shadow  in  New  York.  Chapter  on  Beecher 
and  Plymouth  Church,  by  Matthew  Hale  Smith.  Hartford: 
T.  B.  Bun  &  Co.,  1868. 

Men  of  our  Times,  by  H.  B.  Stowe.  (Includes  chapter  on 
H.  W.  B.,  and  portrait.)    1868. 

Illustrated  Bible  Biography.  (Introduction  by  H.  W.  B.) 
Boston,  1868. 

Plymouth  Pulpit,  New  York,  September,  1868,  to  Septem- 
ber, 1873.     J.  B.  Ford  &  Co. 

Gnaw-Wood  ;  or.  New  England  Life  in  a  Village.  A 
satire  on  Norwood.   New  York :  National  News  Co.,  1868. 

Sermons,  by  H.  W.  Beecher.  Dickinson  :  London,  1869, 
and  thereafter  to  1886. 

Oratory,  Sacred  and  Secular,  by  Wm.  Pittenger.  In- 
cludes note  on  and  sketch  of  H.  W.  B.  New  York  :  Samuel 
R.  Wells,  1869. 

The  Funeral  Service  of  Mrs.  Lucy  W.  Bullard.  Address 
by  H.  W.  B.     Worcester,  1869. 

How  Beecher  Makes  his  Sermons,  by  Ralph  Meeker. 
Packard's  Monthly,  March,  1869. 

The  Overture  of  the  Angels,  by  H.  W.  Beecher.  J.  B. 
Ford,  1869. 

The  Great  Metropolis,  by  J.  N.  Browne.  Chapter  27  on 
H.  W.  B.     Hartford,  1869. 

The  Christian  Union.  Edited  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
January  1,  1870,  to  November  2,  1881.  New  York.  Now 
The  Outlook. 

The  Potato  Book,  by  G.  W.  Beat.  Includes  article  on  the 
Potato  Mania  by  H.  W.  B.     1870. 

Familiar  Talks  on  General  Christian  Experience,  by 
Henry  Ward  Beecher.  London  :  Nelson  &  Sons,  Paternos- 
ter Row,  1870  ;  Edinburgh  and  New  York. 

Lecture-Room  Talks.  A  Series  of  Familiar  Discourses 
on  Tiiemes  of  General  Christian  Experience.     J.  B.  Ford  & 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxv 

O.  P.  Morton's  Oration.     Prayer  by  H.  W.  B.     1870. 

Henry  J.  Raymond  and  the  New  York  Press,  by  Augus- 
tus Maverick.  Includes  Mr.  Beecher's  funeral  sermon. 
Hartford,  Conn.,  1870. 

1000  Gems  from  the  Sermons  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
by  the  Rev.  G.  D.  Evans,  Victoria  Park,  London.  Hod- 
der  &  Stoughton :  27  Paternoster  Row,  1870. 

Common  Sense  for  Young  Men  on  the  Subject  of  Tem- 
perance. A  sermon  by  H.  W.  B.,  in  Plymouth  Church. 
New  York  :  National  Temperance  Society,  1871. 

Address  at  Semi-Centenuial  of  Amherst  College,  July, 
1871. 

On  Labor  ;  Popular  Errors  in  the  Education  of  American 
Youth.     By  H.  W.  B.     Baltimore,  1871  and  1872. 

The  Unity  of  Italy.  Includes  address  by  H.  W.  B.,  at 
Academy  of  Music.     New  York,  1871. 

My  Summer  in  a  Garden.  Charles  Dudley  Warner.  In- 
troduction by  H.  W.  B.    Osgood  :  Boston,  1871. 

My  Summer  in  a  Garden.  Charles  Dudley  Warner,  with 
an  Introduction  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  London  :  Samp- 
son &  Low. 

Morning  and  Evening  Exercises.  Edited  by  Lyman  Ab- 
bott. Being  selections  from  the  published  and  unpublished 
writings  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher.     Harper  Bros.,  1871. 

The  Heavenly  State  and  Future  Punishment.  Two  ser- 
mons by  Henry  Ward  Beecher.     New  York,  1871. 

The  Life  of  Jesus  the  Christ,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
One  vol.  J.  B.  Ford  &  Co.,  1871.  Large  edition.  New  York, 
1872.  Completed  in  two  vols,  by  his  sons,  1891.  Reissued 
by  E.  B.  Treat,  1896. 

The  Life  of  Jesus  the  Christ,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
Loudon  :  T.  Nelson  &  Sons,  Paternoster  Row,  1871.  Also 
issued  in  Edinburgh. 

Successful  preaching,  by  J.  Hall,  T.  L.  Cuyler,  and  Henry 
Ward  Beecher.     American  Tract  Society  :  New  York,  1871. 

Forty-eight  Sermons  preached  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
previous  to  1867.    London  :  R.  D.  Dickinson,  1871. 

Great  Fortunes,  by  John  B.  McCabe.  (Includes  chapter 
on  H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1871. 


xxvi  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Una  and  her  Paupers.  Memorials  of  Agnes  E.  Jones. 
(Introductory  preface  by  H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1872. 

Remarks  and  Prayer  at  the  Funeral  of  Elizabeth  Cripps. 
1870. 

Records  of  the  Proceedings  at  the  Unveiling  of  the  Frank- 
lin Statue  at  Printing-House  Square,  New  York  City.  (In- 
cludes an  address  by  H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1872. 

A  Day  in  Plymouth  Church,  —  Henry  Ward  Beecher's. 
S.  W.  Partridge  &  Co.:  London,  9  Paternoster  Row,  1872  ; 
Glasgow  :  Tliomas  Murray  &  Son,  1872. 

Popular  Lectures  on  Preaching,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
Glasgow:  Joseph  Man  &  Sons  ;  London:  Simpkin,  Marshall 
&  Co.,  1872. 

Should  Libraries  and  Public  Reading-Rooms  be  opened 
on  Sunday  ?  Address  delivered  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
at  the  request  of  members  of  the  Mercantile  Library  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York,  at  Cooper  Union  Hall,  Monday,  April 
22,   1872.     Phonographically  reported  by  T.  J.  Ellinwood. 

Contemporary  Review.  Sketch  of  H.  W.  B.,  by  H.  R. 
Haweis.     London,  1872. 

Temperance  Sermons,  No.  10,  Liberty  and  Love.  An 
Appeal  to  the  Conscience  to  Banish  the  Wine  Cup.  New 
York,  1872. 

Men  of  our  Day,  by  L.  P.  Brockett.  (Includes  portrait 
and  chapter  on  H.  W.  B.)     St.  Louis,  1872. 

Scribner's  Monthly.  Article  by  A.  McElroy  Wylie. 
New  York,  October,  1872. 

The  History  of  Plymouth  Church,  including  Historical 
Ske'tches  of  the  Bethel  and  the  Navy  Missions,  by  N.  L. 
Thompson.  J.  W.  Carleton:  New  York,  1873  ;  London, 
1873. 

New  York  Tribune  Extra,  No.  2.  Lecture  by  H.  W.  B. 
on  Compulsory  Education. 

Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching,  by  H.  W.  B.  3  vols.  J.  B. 
Ford  &  Co.:  New  York,  1872-74,  also  1881  and  1893  ;  Three 
vols,  in  one,  1900.     Loudon,  1872. 

The  Present  Fearful  Commercial  Pressure.  Discourse  by 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  in  Plymouth  Church.  London  :  W. 
Howell  &  Co.     Price,  oue  peimy. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xrm 

Letters  on  the  Future  Life,  addressed  to  Rev.  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  by  B.  F.  Barrett.  Philadelphia  :  Claxton, 
Renisen  &  Hafflinger,  1873 

Duyckiuck's  Eminent  Women  and  Men  of  America  and 
Europe.     Sketch  and  portrait  of  H.  W.  B.     1873. 

Plymouth  Pulpit  (New  Series).  New  York  :  J.  B.  Ford 
&  Co.  Begun  September  27,  1873  ;  ended  September  18, 
1875  ;  4  volumes.     Reprinted,  1891. 

New  York  Tribune  Extras,  Nos.  6  and  7.  Yale  Lectures 
for  Ministers,  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

Account  of  Services  of  Silver  Wedding  Week  at  Plymouth 
Church.  Edited  for  Committee  by  H.  C.  King.  New 
York,  1873. 

Sketches  of  Representative  Men,  by  Augustus  C.  Rogers. 
Portrait  and  sketch  of  H.  W.  B.  Atlantic  Pub.  Co.:  New 
York,  1873. 

Proceedings  at  the  Farewell  to  Professor  Tyndall.  (In- 
cludes address  by  H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1873. 

William  H.  H.  Murray's  The  Perfect  Horse.  Introduc- 
tion by  H.  W.  B.     Boston :  James  R.  Osgood,  1873. 

Memorial  of  Horace  Greeley.  Funeral  address  by  H.  W. 
B.     New  York,  1873. 

The  Discipline  of  Sorrow.  H.  W.  B.  J.  B.  Ford, 
1874. 

Proceedings  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  (Includes  address 
by  H.  W.  B.)     New  York,  1874. 

Clergy  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  by  J.  A.  Patton. 
Sketch  of  H.  W.  B.,  and  portrait.     New  York,  1874. 

A  Summer  Parish.  Sketch  and  Discourses  of  the  Morning 
Services  at  the  Twin  Mountain  House,  N.  H.,  1874.  New 
York:  J.  B.  Ford,  1875. 

Great  Modern  Preachers.  Sketches  of  Spurgeon,  Stop- 
ford  Brooke,  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher.     London,  1875. 

Truth  and  Candor  Vindicated  from  the  Assaults,  and 
Christian  Ministers  Vindicated  from  the  Compliments  of  Dr. 
Parker,  City  Temple,  in  his  recent  defences  of  Mr.  Beecher, 
by  Senex  Rusticns.  London  :  R.  Coulcher,  50  Chancery 
Lane,  1874. 

Paxton's  Complete  and  Illustrated  Edition  ;  The  Great 


xxviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Brooklyn  Romance.  All  the  Documents  of  the  Beecher- 
Tiltou  Case,  unabridged.     New  York:  J.  H.  Paxton,  1874. 

The  Great  Sensation  ;  History  of  the  Beecher-Tilton- 
Woodhull  Scandal.     Chicago,  1873. 

Ye  Tilt-on  Beecher;  or,  The  muddle  of  ye  mutual  friends 
in  verse,  by  the  author  of  Ye  Ball.  pp.  24.  New  York, 
1874. 

The  Brooklyn  Council  of  1874  ;  Letter  Missive,  State- 
ments, and  Documents,  together  with  a  full  stenographical 
report  of  the  proceedings,  and  the  result  of  the  Council. 
New  York,  1874. 

The  Romance  of  Plymouth  Church,  its  Pastor,  and  his 
Accusers,  by  E.  P.  Doyle.     Hartford,  Conn.,  1874. 

Beecher  and  his  Accusers,  including  Life  of  H.  W.  B., 
by  F.  P.  Williamson.     Philadelphia,  1874. 

New  York  Tribune  Extra,  No.  16.  The  Brooklyn  Con- 
gregational Council  (complete).     New  York,  1874. 

Wickedness  in  High  Places,  by  E.  B.  Fairfield.  Mans- 
field, O.,  1874. 

Case  of  E.  B.  Fairfield,  by  R.  R.  Raymond.  New  York, 
1874. 

Metropolitan  Sermons.  New  York  Tribune  Extras, 
Nos.  19  and  20.  Includes  sketches  of  four  sermons  by 
H.   W.  B. 

The  Story  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  Theo.  and  Mrs. 
Tilton,  by  the  Editor  of  the  Anglo-American  Times.  Lon- 
don: Anglo-American  Press,  1874. 

History  of  Plymouth  Church, — Manual,  Officers,  and 
full  list  Members,     pp.  92.     1874. 

Truth  Stranger  than  Fiction.     Guelph,  Ont.,  1874. 

The  Beecher-Tilton  Investigation  ;  Full  and  Impartial 
Account,  pp.  126.  E.  E.  Barclay  &  Co.:  Philadelphia, 
1874. 

Drama  of  Deceit.  (A  Satire  in  Verse  on  H.  W.  B.) 
Worcester,  Mass.,  1875. 

The  Little  Clincher,  being  the  Great  Biblical  Defense  of 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  ;  Spicy  Poems  and  Pleasing  Articles 
on  the  Beecher-Tilton  Scandal  (with  scurrilous  illustrations). 
Washington,  D.  C,  1875. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxix 

Case  of  Mr.  Beecher.  Opening  address  by  Benj.  F. 
Tracey.    New  York,  1875. 

Official  Report  of  Trial  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Notes 
and  References,  edited  by  Austin  Abbott.  2  vols.  New 
York,  1874. 

The  Vail  Removed.  (A  Scurrilous  Attack  on  H.  W.  B.) 
New  York,  1874. 

A  Looking-Glass  for  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  (Similar  to 
above  in  part.)  ' 

H.  W.  B.  vs.  Theo.  Tilton  :  Trial  Proceedings.  New 
York:  McDivitt  &  Campbell.     2  vols.,  1875. 

True  History  of  the  Brooklyn  Scandal,  by  C.  F.  Marshall. 
Philadelphia:  National  Pub.  Co.,  1875. 

Catholic  Sermons,  Select  Discourses  by  Eminent  Minis- 
ters of  Various  Denominations.  Vol.  ii.,  pp.  97-108,  Thank- 
fulness, H.  W.  B.  London:  F.  E.  Langley,  29  Warwick 
Lane,  Paternoster  Row,  E.  C,  1875. 

The  Brooklyn  Council  of  1876.  (Published  by  Plymouth 
Church.)     New  York:  A.  S.  Barnes,  1875. 

Non-conformity  upon  the  Henry  Ward  Beecher  Case,  — 
A  protest  against  the  action  of  Joseph  Parker,  in  the  City 
Temple,  in  sympathy  with  H.  W.  B.  London,  1875.  2 
editions. 

Uncontradicted  Testimony  in  the  Beecher  Case.  Preface 
by  Lyman  Abbott.     New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1875. 

The  Result  of  the  Brooklyn  Advisory  Council  of  1876, 
with  the  Letters  of  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  President  Timothy 
Dwight,  D.  D.,  etc.,  etc.     New  York  :  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co. 

The  Beecher  Trial.  A  Review  of  the  Evidence  for  the 
New  York  Times,  July  2,  1875.     New  York,  1875. 

Mr.  Beecher's  Trial  :  with  Portrait.  Harper's  Weekly 
Supplement,  June  5,  1875. 

An  Address  on  Congregationalism  as  affected  by  the  de- 
clarations of  the  Advisory  Council  held  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
February,  1876.  By  Richard  S.  Storrs,  D.  D.  March  13, 
1876.     No  publisher. 

References  and  citations  prepared  for  the  convenience  of 
the  Brooklyn  Council  of  1876.  With  prefatory  note  by 
Henry  M.  Storrs.     No  publisher. 


XXX  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ingersoll,  Beecher,  and  Dogma,  by  R.  S.  Dement.  Chi- 
cago, 1875. 

Views  and  Interviews  on  Journalism.  (Includes  address 
by  H.  AV.  B.,  before  State  Editorial  Reunion  at  Pough- 
keepsie.)     Chas.  F.  Wingate,  1875. 

The  Brooklyn  Theatre  Fire.  Includes  address  by  H.  W.  B.> 
at  Memorial  Services,  Brooklyn.      Daily  Times  Print,  1876- 

The  Holocaust  at  the  Brooklyn  Theatre.  Includes  ad- 
dress by  H.  W.B.     Daily  Argus,  Brooklyn,  1876. 

Oratory.  An  Oration  by  H.  W.  B.  Philadelphia,  1876, 
'86,  '92,  '95,  '97,  '99. 

Centennial  Orations.  Includes  address  by  H.  W.  B. 
Tribune  Extra,  No.  32,  1876. 

The  Plymouth  Chimes.  Devoted  to  Plymouth  Church 
and  its  Missions.     1877-1903. 

Address  to  the  Army  of  the  Republic,  H.  W.  B.  Spring- 
field, Mass.,  1878. 

Past  Perils  and  the  Perils  of  To-day.  A  sermon  by 
H.  W.  B.     Christian  Union  Print,  New  York,  1878. 

The  Background  of  Mystery.  A  Sermon  by  H.  W.  B., 
December  15,  1877. 

The  Whole  World  in  Pain.  A  sermon  by  H.  W.  B. 
Christian  Union  Print,  1878. 

The  Strike  and  its  Lessons.  A  sermon  by  H.  W.  B. 
New  York,  1878. 

In  the  West.  A  sermon  by  H.  W.  B.,  with  note  by 
Lyman  Abbott.     Christian  Union  Print,  1878. 

Christianity  Unchanged  by  Change.  Two  sermons  by 
H.  W^.  B.,  under  one  cover.      Christian  Union,  No.  10,  1878. 

An  Hour  with  the  American  Hebrew.  Includes  sermon 
by  H.  W.  B.  on  Jew  and  Gentile.     1879,  New  York. 

The  Plymouth  Triangle.  A  paper  of  Plymouth  Fair^ 
with  article  by  H.  W.  B.     Brooklyn,  March,  1879. 

An  Account  of  the  Visit  of  the  13th  Regiment,  N.  G.  S., 
New  York  to  Montreal,  Canada.  Includes  address  by 
H.  W.  B.    Brooklyn,  1879. 

Goklen  Gleams  from  Henry  Ward  Beecher's  Words  and 
Works,  by  John  T.  Lloyd.  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  England, 
1880. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxxi 

Plans  for  Reading.  Edited  by  Lyman  Abbott.  Includes 
article  by  H.  W.  B.     New  York,  1880. 

Channing  Memorial.  Address  by  H.  W.  B.  Brooklyn 
Academy  of  Music.     Boston,  1880. 

Memorable  Men  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  Life,  H. 
W.  B.,  with  portrait.     J.  T.  Lloyd,  London,  1881. 

Sermons  of  H.  W.  B.,  1873-74.  fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert, 
New  York,  1882. 

New  England  Society  of  Brooklyn.  Addresses  by  H.  W.  B. 
In  Proceedings  for  1881,  '82,  '84,  '86. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher's  Statement  of  Belief  before  the 
New  York  and  Brooklyn  Association.  New  York:  Funk 
&  Wagnalls,  1882  ;  The  Christian  Union,  1882. 

O.  A.  Brownson,  Works,  vol.  xiii.  and  vol.  xix.  Beech- 
erism  and  its  Tendency.     Detroit,  1882  and  1887. 

Progress  of  Thought  in  the  Church,  by  H.  W.  Beecher. 
North  American  Review,  August,  1882. 

In  Memoriam :  Hobart  Schroeder.  Portions  Mr.  Beecher's 
Friday  evening  talk.     No  date. 

Funeral  Service  of  Dr.  H.  B.  White.  Address  of  H. 
W.  B.  March  28,  1883. 

On  Free  Trade  and  Congressional  Elections.  H.  W.  B. 
1883. 

A  Circuit  of  the  Continent :  Account  of  a  tour  through 
the  West  and  South.  By  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  With  por- 
trait. Being  his  Thanksgiving  Day  discourse,  Nov.  29, 1883. 
New  York:  Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert. 

Life  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  by  Lyman  Abbott,  assisted 
by  S.  B.  Halliday.  pp.  604.  New  York  :  Funk  &  Wagnalls, 
1883;  and  with  additional  matter,  London,  1887. 

Articles  of  Faith  and  Principles  and  Rules  of  Plymouth 
Church.    Brooklyn,  1884. 

Leading  Orators  of  25  Campaigns,  by  W.  C.  Roberts, 
Portrait  and  sketch  of  H.  AV.  B.  New  York :  K.  L.  Strouse 
&  Co.,  1884. 

Address  at  the  Brooklyn  Rink,  by  H.  W.  B.  Brooklyn, 
October,  1884. 

Wendell  Phillips  ;  A  Commemoration  Discourse,  by  H. 
W.  B.     Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert,  1884. 


xxxii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Beecher's  Cleveland  Letters  :  — Two  Letters  on  the  Re- 
construction of  the  Southern  States,  written  by  H.  W.  B., 
in  1866,  with  introductory  postscript.     1884. 

A  Circuit  of  the  Continent.  A  Thanksgiving  sermon  by 
H.  W.  B.     New  York :  Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert,  1884. 

Comforting  Thoughts  (arranged  by  Irene  Ovington  from 
Beecher's  sermons).  New  York:  Fords,  Howard  &  Hul- 
bert, 1884,  '90,  '93,  1901,  with  introduction  by  NeweU 
D wight  Hillis. 

A  Surrender  to  Infidelity.  A  reply  to  Rev.  H.  W.  Beecher. 
A  sermon  preached  by  Justin  D.  Fulton,  D.  D.,  in  the  Cen- 
tennial Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn.  New  York :  Funk  & 
Wagnalls,  1884. 

Fifty  Years  among  Authors,  Books  and  Publishers. 
Reminiscences  by  J.  C.  Derby.  Chapter  on  H.  W.  B.  New 
York,  1884. 

Evolution  and  Religion.  A  few  sermons  by  H.  W.  B., 
with  portrait.     New  York  :  Gallison  &  Hobson,  18S5. 

Evolution  and  Religion.  Part  i.  Theoretical.  Part  ii. 
Practical.  Eight  sermons  discussing  the  bearing;  of  the 
Evolutionary  Philosophy  on  the  Fundamental  Doctrines  of 
Evangelical  Christianity.  New  York :  Fords,  Howard  & 
Hulbert,  1885,  '86.     London :  James  Clarke  &  Co. 

Dedication  Ceremonies  of  N.  Y.  Lodge  No.  1,  B.  P.  O. 
Elks,  at  Evergreen  Cemetery.  Address  of  H.  W.  B. 
New  York,  1885. 

H.  B.  Clafiin  Memorial  Address,  by  H.  W.  B.,  March  14, 
1885.     New  York,  1885. 

Funeral  Sermon  of  Mary  Carrington  Healy,  by  H.  W.  B. 
No  date. 

The  New  Theology  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher  Briefly  Re- 
viewed, by  Henry  Webb.     Philadelphia,  1885. 

Memorial  Volume  of  City  of  Boston,  of  U.  S.  Grant, 
including  Eulogy  of  Grant  by  H.  W.  B.     Boston,  1886. 

Beecher  Book  of  Days.  Compiled  by  Eleanor  Kirk  and 
C.  B.  Lerow.     New  York,  1886. 

E.  T.  Mason's  Humorous  Masterpieces.  Selections  from 
H.  W.  B.     New  York,  1886. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher's  Last  Sermon.  Preached  in 
Plynioutli  Church.    London,  1887. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxxiU 

I  am  resolved  what  to  do.  Last  sermon  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  February  27,  1887.  New  York:  Gallager  & 
Hoeffer,  1887. 

Sermons  in  the  Brooklyn  Magazine,  1886-87. 

The  Beecher  Calendar  for  1887.     New  York,  1887. 

Beecher  as  a  Humorist.  Selections  from  the  published 
works  of  H.  W.  B.  by  Eleanor  Kirk.  New  York.  Fords, 
Howard  &  Hulbert,  1887. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  :  A  Memorial  —  Plymouth  Church, 
1887. 

The  Christian  Union  Supplement  :  March  17,  1887.  Il- 
lustrated. Containing  biographical  sketch,  tribute,  sermon 
by  H.  W.  B.,  incidents,  and  anecdotes.  The  Christian  Union 
Pub.  Co. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  :  His  Life  and  Work.  Partly  re- 
print of  above.  Illustrated.  The  Christian  World,  London, 
No  date. 

Beecher  Memorial.  Contemporaneous  Tributes  to  His 
Memory.  Edited  by  Edward  W.  Bok.  New  York:  1887. 
Same,  London,  James  Clarke  &  Co.,  1887. 

Memorial  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  Jos.  H.  Knight, 
New  York,  1887. 

A  Tribute  to  H.  W.  Beecher,  by  Rev.  Frank  Fitch,  March 
13,  1887.    Buffalo,  New  York,  1887. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher.  A  Sermon  by  John  W.  Chadwick, 
March  13,  1887.   G.  H.  Ellis,  Boston,  1887. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher.  A  discourse  delivered  in  the  Union 
Park  Congregational  Church,  March  13,  1887,  by  Rev.  F. 
Noble,  D.  D.   Chicago,  1887. 

Sermon  in  Plymouth  Church,  by  Rev.  Thomas  Armitage* 
D.  D.,  March  7,  1887.    Brooklyn,  1887. 

Joseph  Parker's  Eulogy  on  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  with 
letters  by  Gladstone  and  Grover  Cleveland,  with  postscript, 
James  Clarke  &  Co.,  London,  1887. 

Sermon  by  Rev.  Duncan  McGregor,  D.  D.,  preached  in 
the  Carroll  Park  M.  E.  Church  on  the  death  of  Henry 
Ward  Beecher.  Printed  by  request  of  the  Trustees.  Brook- 
lyn, 1887. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher :   A  sketch  of  his  career  :   with 


xxxiv  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

analyses  of  his  power  as  a  preacher,  lecturer,  orator,  and 
journalist ;  and  incidents  and  reminiscences  of  his  life.  By 
Lyman  Abbott,  D.  D.,  assisted  by  Rev.  S.  B.  Halliday.  Hart- 
ford, Conn.:  Am.  Pub.  Co.,  1887. 

A  Chaplain's  Record.  Article  on  H.  W.  Beecher,  by  Capt. 
D.  E.  Austen,  in  North  American  Review,  April,  1887. 
New  York,  1887. 

Patriotic  Addresses  in  England  and  America,  1850  to 
1885,  by  John  R.  Howard,  with  biographical  sketch.  New 
York,  1887  and  1891. 

Life  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  Joseph  Howard,  Jr. 
Hubbard  Bros. :  Philadelphia. 

Routledge's  World  Library — Henry  Ward  Beecher  in 
the  Pulpit,  with  an  introduction  by  Rev.  Hugh  Reginald 
Haweis,  M.  A.  London :  Routledge  &  Son,  Ludgate  Hall, 
1886. 

A  Summer  in  England  with  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by 
James  B.  Pond.  New  York:  Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert, 
1887. 

Beecher's  Personality.  Article  in  the  North  American 
Review,  by  W.  S.  Searle,  M.  D.   May,  1887. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  in  England  in  1886.  James  Clarke 
&  Co.  Addresses,  Lectures,  Sermons  and  Prayers,  London, 
1887.    With  biographical  sketch  and  portrait. 

Beecher  :  Christian  Philosopher,  Pulpit  Orator,  Patriot 
and  Philanthropist.  A  volume  of  representative  selections, 
with  biographical  sketch,  by  Thos.  W.  Hanford.  Chicago, 
1887. 

Catalogue  of  the  library,  etc.,  of  H.  W.  B.  American 
Art  Association  :  New  York,  1887. 

Henry  W.  Beecher.  A  Lecture  delivered  by  Felix  Adler, 
for  the  Society  of  Ethical  Culture  at  Chickering  Hall,  New 
York,  1887. 

Annual  Cyclopaedia,  Biography  of  H.  W.  B.  New  York, 
1887. 

Proverbs  from  Plymouth  Pulpit.  By  Wm.  Drysdale.  New 
York:  I).  Appleton  &  Co.,  1887. 

As  above,  with  introductory  note  by  Joseph  Parker, 
D.  D.,  City  Temple,  London.   Chas.  Burnett  &  Co.,  1887. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxxv 

The  Moral  Uses  of  Luxury  aud  Beauty,  by  H.  W.  B. 
The  Christian  Union  Print,  1887. 

The  Boyhood  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  A  Litchfield 
Beecher  Day,  by  Frank  S.  Child,  New  Creston,  Conn. 
1887.    pp.  32. 

Life  and  Work  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  Thos.  W. 
Knox.    Hartford,  Conn.,  1887. 

Speeches  on  the  American  Rebellion  (first  published  in 
America).    Edited  by  John  Anderson,  Jr.   New  York,  1887. 

Religion  and  Duty  ;  or.  Fifty-eight  Sunday  Readings  from 
Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Selected  and  arranged  by  Rev.  J. 
Reeves  Brown.    London  :  James  Clarke  &  Co.,  1887. 

The  Apostle  Preacher.  A  sermon  preached  in  AVood  St. 
Congregational  Church,  High  Burnet,  on  Sunday,  March  27, 
1887,  in  memory  of  the  late  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  Rev. 
J.  Matthews,  with  a  preparatory  note  by  Rev.  Joseph  Par- 
ker, D.  D,     London:  G.  W.  Cowing. 

Life  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  W.  C.  Griswold.  Por- 
trait and  illustrations.     Centrebrook,  Conn.,  1887. 

Anecdotes  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  N.  A.  Shenstone. 
Chicago  :  R.  R.  Donnelly  &  Son,  1887. 

Albany  Law  Journal,  J.  D.  Parsons,  March  19,  1887. 

Proposed  Memorial  to  the  late  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
F.  W.  Evans,  Mt.  Lebanon  College,  New  York,  1887. 

Biography  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  by  W.  C.  Beecher 
and  Samuel  Scoville,  assisted  by  Mrs.  H.  W.  Beecher. 
New  York  :  Chas.  L.  Webster  &  Co.,  1888. 

The  above,  London,  by  Sampson,  Low,  Marston  &  Co., 
1888. 

Current  Religious  Perils,  by  Joseph  Cook,  (Contains  re- 
marks on  H.  W.  B.) 

Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Memorial  Address  delivered  in 
Plymouth  Church,  by  R.  W.  Raymond,  March  11,  1888. 

A  String  of  Pearls.  Selections  from  H.  W.  B.  New  York, 
1888. 

Beecher,  by  G.  W.  Washburn.  J.  B.  Lippincott  :  Phila- 
delphia, 1888. 

Life  of  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  by  C.  E.  Stowe.  (Con- 
tains letters  from  H.  W.  B.)    New  York,  1889. 


xxxvi  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Signs  Oi*  Promise.  Sermons  by  Lyman  Abbott.  (Contains 
Memorial  Sermons  on  H.  W.  B.)    New  York,  1889. 

Crown  of  Life.  Selections  from  the  writings  of  H.  W.  B., 
by  Mary  Storrs  Haynes,  with  introduction  by  II.  W.  Ray- 
mond.    Boston  :  D.  Lothrop  &  Co. 

Memorial  Service  in  Plymouth  Church,  March,  1891,  with 
Memorial  Address  by  Thos.  G.  Shearman.  New  York : 
Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert,  1891. 

Mr.  Beecher  as  I  knew  hira.  Mrs.  H.  W.  Beecher,  in 
Ladies'  Home  Journal,  Philadelphia,  October,  1895. 

Faith.  Mr.  Beecher's  last  (morning)  sermon.  Ellinwood  : 
Brooklyn,  1891,  '92. 

The  Hidden  Manna  and  the  White  Stone.  A  sermon  by 
Mr.  Beecher,  July  6,  1866,  with  appendix  by  Mrs.  Beecher. 
Ellinwood  :  Brooklyn,  1892. 

A  Book  of  Prayer,  by  H.  W.  Beecher.  Compiled  by  El- 
linwood. Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert,  1892 ;  Dickinson  : 
London,  1892. 

Addresses.  Edited  by  F.  Saunders.  (Includes  the  Advance 
of  a  Century  by  H.  W.  B.)     1893. 

Bible  Studies.  Readings  in  the  early  history  of  the  Old 
Testament,  with  familiar  comments  ;  Plymouth  Church, 
1878-79.  Edited  by  John  R.  Howard.  Fords,  Howard  & 
Hulbert,  New  York,  1893. 

Best  Thoughts  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  with  portrait  and 
biographical  sketch,  by  Lyman  Abbott,  D.  D.  H.  G.  Good- 
speed  &  Co.,  1893. 

Life  of  H.  W.  Beecher,  the  Shakespeare  of  the  Pulpit. 
By  J.  H.  Barrows,  D.  D.  New  York  :  Funk  &  Wagnalls, 
1893.    London  and  Toronto. 

Other  Essays  from  the  Easy  Chair.  G.  W.  Curtis.  In- 
cludes account  of  Mr.  Beecher's  preaching  on  Lincoln's 
death.     New  York,  1893. 

The  Plymouth  Hymnal.  Edited  by  Lyman  Abbott.  (Con- 
tains historical  introduction  on  the  service  rendered  to 
hymnology  by  H.  W.  B.)  New  York  :  The  Outlook  Co., 
1893. 

Donn  Piatt  :  Sunday  Meditations.  Includes  selected 
sketches  by  H.  W.  B.    Ciucinnati :  Robt.  Clark,  1893. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  xxxvii 

Beecher  Exonerated.  A  poena  by  Isaac  M.  Inman.  New- 
York  :  Franklin  Press  Co.,  1893. 

History  of  the  13th  Regiment.  Chapter  on  H.  W.  B.  as 
chaplain,  with  portrait.    Brooklyn,  1894. 

Famous  Leaders  Among  Men.  Sarah  Knowles  Bolton. 
Includes  account  of  H.  W.  B.  New  York  and  Boston, 
1894. 

Metaphors,  Similes,  and  other  Characteristic  Sayings 
from  the  Discourses  of  H.  W.  B.  Edited  by  Ellinwood. 
Introduction  by  H.  B.  Sprague.  Andrew  Graham  :  New 
York,  1895  ;  London,  1895. 

Specimens  of  Argumentative  Modes.  Compiled  by  George 
P.  Baker,  Assistant  Professor  in  English,  Harvard  University. 
Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  1896.  Includes  speech  delivered  by  H. 
W.  Beecher  in  Philharmonic  Hall,  Liverpool,  October  18, 
1863,  with  notes  by  the  editor,  as  an  illustration  of  persuasive 
oratory. 

Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature.  Includes  por- 
trait of  H.  W.  B.,  and  review  of  his  work,  by  Lyman  Ab- 
bott, in  vol.  iii.     New  York,  1896, 

Men  Who  Win  ;  or.  Making  Things  Happen,  by  Wm. 
Thayer.  Has  chapter  on  H.  W.  B.  T.  Nelson  &  Sons,  New 
York,  1896. 

The  Literature  of  America,  by  W.  W.  Birdsall  and  others. 
Account  of  H.  W.  B.    Chicago  and  Philadelphia,  1897. 

The  New  Puritanism.  Addresses  at  the  Semi-Centennial 
of  Plymouth  Church,  by  Lyman  Abbott,  Amory  H.  Brad- 
ford, Charles  A.  Berry,  George  A.  Gordon,  Washington 
Gladden,  and  W.  J.  Tucker.  Introduction  by  R.  W.  Ray- 
mond. New  York  :  Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert,  1897  ;  Lon- 
don :  James  Clarke  «&  Co.,  1897. 

Poetical  Sermons;  Including  the  Ballad  of  Plymouth 
Church,  and  The  Heart  of  the  Republic.  (Poems  on  H.  W. 
B.,  by  W.  E.  Davenport.)  New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
1897. 

Address  on  H.  W.  B.,  by  J.  B.  Pond,  before  the  Long 
Island  Historical  Society.     Brooklyn,  1897. 

Giants  of  the  Republic,  by  J.  H.  Vincent.  Chapter  on 
H.  W.  B.    1898. 


xxxviii  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Autobiographical  Reminiscences.  Edited  by  T.  J,  Ellin- 
wood.    Selections  from  talks  by  H.  W.  B.    New  York,  1898. 

R.  C.  Ringwalts.  Modern  American  Oratory.  Includes 
The  Sepulchre  in  the  Garden,  by  H.  W.  B.    New  York,  1898. 

American  Orations.  Edited  by  A.  Johnson.  Includes 
H.  W.  B.'s  Liverpool  Address.    1898. 

The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit,  by  Rev.  Alford  B.  Penniman. 
Chapter  on  H.  W.  B.     Adams,  Mass.,  New  York,  1898. 

Reminiscences,  by  Justin  M'Carthy.  Chapter  on  H.  W.  B., 
and  Woman's  Rights.    Harper  Bros. :  New  York,  1899. 

Patriotic  Nuggets.  New  York  :  Fords,  Howard  &  Hul- 
bert,  1899. 

The  Clergy  in  American  Life  and  Letters,  by  J).  D. 
Addison.  Includes  account  of  H.  W.  B.  London:  Macmillan, 
1900. 

The  World's  Best  Orations.  Edited  by  David  J.  Brewer. 
Includes  oration  by  H.  W.  B.     New  York,  1899. 

Brooklyn  Eagle  Library.  No.  39,  Plymouth  Church  An- 
nals.   February,  1900. 

Eccentricities  of  Genius,  by  J.  B.  Pond.  Chapter  on 
H.  W.  B.    New  York  :  G.  W.  Dillingham,  1901. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher.  Article  in  Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica,  by  Lyman  Abbott,  D.  D.    1902. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  Souvenir.  (A  booklet  of  quota- 
tions.)   No  date. 

Translation  into  German,  by  Rossiter  W.  Raymond,  of 
Life  Thoughts,  by  H.  W.  B.     Berlin.     No  date. 

Translation  into  German  of  Royal  Truths,  with  a  Sermon 
on  the  Slavery  Question,  by  H.  W.  B.     Berlin. 

Translation  into  German  of  Sermons,  by  H.  W.  B.,  with  a 
biographical  introduction  by  Henri  Tollin.     Berlin,  1870. 

Translation  into  Welsh  of  quotations  from  H.  W.  B.  and 
others.     Crexham,  Hughes  &  Son.     No  date. 


HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   MEANING    OF   MK.    BEECHER's    LIFE 

'The  beginning  of  Mr.  Beecher's  real  life  was  a 
spiritual  experience  which  he  himself  has  graphi- 
cally described.)  I  can  find  no  exact  date  for  this 
experience ;  but  the  opening  sentence  of  his  de- 
scription implies  that  it  occurred  after  his  gradua- 
tion from  Amherst  College ;  and  in  his  address  to 
the  London  ministers  in  1886  he  refers  to  it  as 
having  taken  place  in  the  Ohio  woods,  and  "  when 
he  had  studied  theolog}^,"  evidently  therefore  dur- 
ing his  seminary  course. 

fl  was  a  child  of  teaching  and  prayer ;  I  was  reared  in 
the  household  of  faith  ;  I  knew  the  Catechism  as  it  was 
taught ;  I  was  instructed  in  the  Scriptures  as  they  were 
expounded  from  the  pulpit  and  read  by  men  ;  and  yet, 
till  after  I  was  twenty-one  years  old,  I  groped  without 
the  knowledge  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  I  know  not  what 
the  tablets  of  eternity  have  written  down,  but  I  think 
that  when  I  stand  in  Zlon  and  before  God,  the  brightest 
thing  I  shall  look  back  upon  will  be  that  blessed  morning 
of  May  when  it  pleased  God  to  reveal  to  my  wandering 
soul  the  idea  that  it  was  his  nature  to  love  a  man  in  his 
sins  for  the  sake  of  helping  him  out  of  them  ;  that  he  did 


2  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

not  do  it  out  of  compliment  to  Christ,  or  to  a  law,  or  a 
plan  of  salvation,  but  from  the  fullness  of  his  great  heart ; 
.that  he  was  a  Being  not  made  mad  by  sin,  but  sorry  ;  that 
he  was  not  furious  with  wrath  toward  the  sinner,  but  pitied 
him  —  in  short  that  he  felt  toward  me  as  my  mother  felt 
toward  me,  to  whose  eyes  my  wrong-doing  brought  tears, 
who  never  pressed  me  so  close  to  her  as  when  I  had  done 
wrong,  and  who  would  fain  with  her  yearning  love  lift 
me  out  of  trouble.  And  when  I  found  that  Jesus  Christ 
had  such  a  disposition,  and  that  when  his  disciples  did 
wrong  he  drew  them  closer  to  him  than  he  did  before 
—  and  when  pride,  and  jealousy,  and  rivalry,  and  all  vul- 
gar and  worldly  feelings  rankled  in  their  bosoms,  he 
opened  his  heart  to  them  as  a  medicine  to  heal  these 
infirmities  ;  when  I  found  that  it  was  Christ's  nature  to 
lift  men  out  of  weakness  to  strength,  out  of  impurity  to 
goodness,  out  of  everything  low  and  debasing  to  superi- 
ority, I  felt  that  I  had  found  a  God.  I  shall  never  for- 
get the  feelings  with  which  I  walked  forth  that  May 
morning.  The  golden  pavements  will  never  feel  to  my 
feet  as  then  the  grass  felt  to  them  ;  and  the  singing  of 
the  birds  in  the  woods  —  for  I  roamed  in  the  woods  — 
was  cacophonous  to  the  sweet  music  of  my  thoughts  ;  and 
there  were  no  forms  in  the  universe  which  seemed  to  me 
graceful  enough  to  represent  the  Being,  a  conception  of 
whose  character  hafl  just  dawned  on  my  mind.  I  felt, 
when  I  had  with  the  Psalmist  called  upon  the  heavens, 
the  earth,  the  mountains,  the  streams,  the  floods,  the  birds, 
the  beasts,  and  universal  being  to  praise  God,  that  I  had 
called  upon  nothing  that  could  praise  him  enough  for 
the  revelation  of  such  a  nature  as  that  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

Time  went  on,  and  next  came  the  disclosure  of  a  Christ 
ever  present  witli  me  —  a  Clirist  that  was  never  far  from 
me,  but  was  always  near  me,  as  a  companion  and  friend, 


THE  MEANING  OF  MR.  BEECHER'S  LIFE      3 

to  uphold  and  sustain  me.  This  was  the  last  and  the  best 
revelation  of  God's  Spirit  to  my  soul.  It  is  what  I  con- 
sider to  be  the  culminating  work  of  God's  grace  in  a  man  ; 
and  no  man  is  a  Christian  until  he  has  experienced  it.  I 
do  not  mean  that  a  man  cannot  be  a  good  man  until  then  ; 
but  he  has  not  got  to  Jerusalem  till  the  gate  has  been 
opened  to  him,  and  he  has  seen  the  King  sitting  in  his 
glory,  with  love  to  him  individually.  7 

To  the  interpretation  of  this  vision  and  the  im- 
partation  of  the  life  which  it  begot  in  him  he 
thenceforth  gave  himself.  Was  this  vision  true  ? 
Was  this  life  of  value  ?  By  the  answer  to  these  two 
questions  his  character  and  career  must  be  meas- 
ured. 

Some  changes  in  public  sentiment  are  so  radi- 
cal and  so  widespread  that  it  is  almost  impossi- 
ble for  one  born  in  the  later  time  to  realize  from 
what  they  have  been  delivered  or  the  price  which 
has  been  paid  for  their  deliverance.  It  is  difficult 
for  readers  livino^  in  the  lio-ht  and  warmth  of  the 
twentieth  century  to  realize  the  conception  of  reli- 
gious truth  and  life  which  dominated  the  reason  and 
the  conscience  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  But  some  understanding  of  this  concep- 
tion is  absolutely  necessary  if  one  would  compre- 
hend the  life  or  estimate  the  public  service  of  Henry 
Ward  Beecher.  For  that  service  lies  not  so  much 
in  any  definite  contribution  to  theological  thought 
as  in  a  change  made  in  the  atmosphere  of  religious 
thinking  and  living. 

The  nineteenth  century  opened  with  very  little 


4  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

of  either  light  or  warmth  in  the  Puritan  churches 
of  England  and  America.    Aggressive  piety  was  al- 
most confined  to  the  Methodist  churches,  which  had 
not  yet  lost  the  enthusiasm  of  their  first  great  love 
and  their  first  surprising  successes.    The  philosophy 
of  Locke  was  the  dominant  philosophy  in  England, 
and  was  preparing  the  public  mind  for  the  material- 
ism of  Maudsley,  the  agnosticism  of  Herbert  Spen- 
cer, and  the  Utilitarianism  of  Bentham  and  of  Mill. 
In  the  Church  of  England  worship  was  a  dull  rou- 
tine and  faith  a  cold  intellectualism.    The  orthodox 
definition  of  faith  made  it  synonymous  with  belief, 
the  orthodox  definition  of  virtue  made  it  synony- 
mous with  happiness.    Mental  philosophy  ignored 
the  spiritual  element  in  man  ;  moral  philosophy  de- 
nied the  virtues  of  self-denial  and  suffering.  Already, 
as  the  first  quarter  of  that  century  drew  to  its  close, 
the  protest  of  the  unquenchable  instincts  of  the 
heart  had  begun  to  make  itself  felt  in  three  distinct 
but  substantially  contemporaneous  movements.    In 
the  Oxford  Movement  earnest  men,  making  quest 
for  that  life  which  the  popular  philosophy  of  the 
day  either  quietly  ignored  or  dogmatically  denied, 
turned  their  faces  backward,  and  sought,  by  reviv- 
ing the  mystical  doctrines  and  the  elaborate  ritual 
of  the  half-pagan  church  of  the  early  ages,  to  revive 
the  life  which  had  animated  both.    Under  the  inspi- 
ration of  such  devout  souls  as  the  poet  John  Keble 
and  the  prophet  John  Henry  Newman,  there  was 
a  revival  of  archaeology  in  religion,  the  results  of 
which  are  still  to  be  seen  in  a  revived  Anglo-Ro- 


THE  MEANING  OF  MR.  BEECHER'S  LIFE     5 

manism,  an  imitative  ritualism,  and  a  vigorous  and 
vital  work  of  Christian  beneficence  among  the  poor 
and  the  outcast.  Simultaneously  started,  though 
without  organism  or  acknowledged  leader,  the  Broad 
Church  Movement,  in  which  men,  equally  dissat- 
isfied with  the  superficial  philosophy  of  the  age, 
sought  for  spiritual  truth  by  looking  within  for  the 
witness  to  it,  a  movement  whose  prophets  —  Er- 
skine,  Maurice,  Thomas  Arnold,  Robertson,  Kings- 
ley,  Stanley,  and  Farrar  —  have  made  their  voices 
heard  across  the  Atlantic,  where  their  interpre- 
tation of  life  has  been  caught  up  and  reechoed 
by  such  prophets  as  our  own  Munger,  Mulford, 
Brooks,  and  a  score  of  others.  The  same  dissatis- 
faction with  the  ideals  of  the  Church  and  the  uni- 
versities sent  still  another  school  in  search  of  spirit- 
ual life  to  the  Scriptures,  whose  truths  found  new 
interpreters  in  such  scholars  as  Tregelles,  Words- 
worth, Davidson,  EUicott,  Alford,  and  Conybeare 
and  Howson. 

This  threefold  reaction  against  a  spiritless  psy- 
chology and  a  superficial  if  not  an  Epicurean  moral 
philosophy  must  not  be  forgotten  in  making  any 
true  estimate  of  the  progress  of  thought  in  our  own 
churches  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  For  here,  too, 
the  churches  had  lost  their  power  over  the  masses 
of  the  people,  though  from  other  causes.  They 
were  manacled  by  a  fatalism  which  they  had  in- 
herited from  the  Reformation.  Luther  himself  de- 
clared that  man  had  lost  his  freedom  by  the  Fall, 
and  that  God  had  in  his  secret  counsels  reserved 


6  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

certain  of  his  children  to  inevitable  reprobation. 
Calvin,  equipped  with  less  tender  sympathies  and 
with  more  remorseless  logic,  had  undertaken  to 
drag  these  counsels  out  from  the  secret  places  where 
Luther  left  them  in  hiding,  and  to  blazon  them 
abroad  throughout  all  Europe.  The  Methodist  re- 
volt against  a  fatalism  as  inconsistent  with  Scrip- 
ture as  it  is  with  personal  consciousness  had  only 
intensified  in  the  churches  of  Puritan  descent  the 
dancrerous  dog^mas  of  unconditional  election  and 
reprobation.  These  churches  held  that  God  existed 
for  his  own  glory ;  that  he  had  eternally  elected  a 
few  to  salvation,  and  reprobated  the  many  to  end- 
less sin  and  shame  ;  that  he  had  made  this  choice 
for  them  without  reference  to  their  character  or 
actions ;  that  the  decree  was  absolutely  irrevocable ; 
that  the  damnation  of  the  many  and  the  salvation 
of  the  few  served  equally,  not  only  to  enhance  his 
majesty  and  redound  to  his  praise,  but  also  to  in- 
crease his  joy  and  the  holy  joy  of  the  blessed.  The 
least  of  the  evils  which  accompanied  the  preaching 
of  this  travesty  on  the  Scriptures,  founded  on  the 
misapprehension  of  a  few  enigmatical  texts  taken 
out  of  their  connection  and  therefore  robbed  of 
their  true  meaning,  w^as  the  infidelity  which  it  fos- 
tered. It  quickened  unbelief  and  deadened  vital 
piety.  There  were  no  revivals.  The  churches  did 
not  believe  in  them.  The  minister  was  a  winnower 
whose  Gospel  was  a  fan  in  his  hand,  with  which  he  se- 
lected the  eternally  chosen  grain,  while  the  unalter- 
able chaff  was  swept  away  into  unquenchable  fire. 


THE  MEANING  OF  MR.  BEECHER'S  LIFE      7 

^  Theology  is  at  once  the  cause  and  the  product 
of  the  religious  life  ;  and  the  religious  life  of  New 
England  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  such  as  this  theology  might  well  be  ex- 
pected to  indicate.  Intemperance  was  all  but 
universal.  It  entered  not  only  every  village,  but 
every  home.  Every  store  was  a  drinking  store. 
The  noisome  odors  of  the  bar  polluted  even  the 
parsonage  on  the  occasion  of  ordinations  and  other 
kindred  ministerial  gatherings.v  Slavery  not  merely 
held  three  millions  of  slaves  in  bondage,  but  con- 
trolled the  nation,  and  openly  formed  its  plan  for 
making  of  the  republic  a  great  slave  empire  ;  denied 
the  right  of  free  speech  in  both  North  and  South ; 
denied  the  right  of  petition  in  Congress  ;  and  so 
stifled  the  Church  that  only  in  isolated  pulpits  was 
the  voice  of  remonstrance  raised  against  it.  There 
^vas  no  missionary  zeal,  and  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century  no  missionary  organization,  either 
home  or  foreign.  The  American  Board,  the  mo- 
ther of  them  all,  was  organized  only  three  years 
before  Mr.  Beecher  was  born,  and  then  against  the 
open  opposition  of  conservatism  in  the  Church 
and  the  still  more  serious  obstacle  of  an  almost 
universal  indifference.  Infidelity  was  common. 
Thomas  Paine  was  far  more  pojiular  in  his  day 
than  Robert  Ingersoll  has  been  in  ours,  and  Byron 
was  far  more  read  and  admired  than  is  Swinburne 
now.  When  Dr.  Dwight  took  the  presidency  of 
Yale  College,  there  were  in  it  two  Thomas  Paine 
societies  and  only  four  or  five  students  known  to 


8  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

be  professing  Christians ;  and  so  popular  was 
French  infidelity  that  a  number  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  Senior  class  had  dropped  their 
own  names  and  taken  instead  the  names  of  lead- 
ing French  infidels,  ■  as  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  and 
D'Alembert.  There  was,  it  is  true,  a  "  Moral 
Society  of  Yale  College ; "  but  apparently  it  was 
organized  only  to  debate  religious  and  ethical  ques- 
tions, and  it  is  significant  that  it  was  a  secret  soci- 
ety, and  any  disclosure  of  its  proceedings  was  pun- 
ishable by  expulsion.^  In  the  churches  long  creeds 
were  being  substituted  for  the  short  and  simple 
covenants  of  the  earlier  Puritans,  in  a  vain  hope 
thus  to  turn  back  the  current.  The  great  Uni- 
tarian revolt  against  Puritan  theology  had  already 
begun  with  the  settlement  of  Channing  in  Boston 
in  1803,  a  revolt  which  became  organic  in  the 
formation  of  the  Unitarian  Association  in  1825. 
There  was  already  impending  the  battle  between 
the  Old  School  and  the  New  School  in  theology, 
which  subsequently  rent  the  Presbyterian  denomi- 
nation, and  would  have  rent  the  Congregation al- 
ists  also  if  they  had  been  sufficiently  organized  to 
be  capable  of  division. ~1 

Such  was  the  legacy  which  the  Puritan  theology 
of  the  eighteenth  century  had  left  to  New  Eng- 
land :  a  fear  of  God  ;  a  reverence  for  his  law ;  a 
strenuous    though   narrow   and  conventional  con- 

^  Life  of  Timothy  Dwight :  Introduction  to  Dwight's  Theology, 
p.  20  ;  Two  Centuries  of  Christian  Activity  at  Yale  College,  p.  55 ; 
Autobiography  and  Correspondence  of  Lyman  Beecher,  i.  43. 


THE  MEANING  OF  MR.  BEECHER'S  LIFE       9 

science ;  but  also  a  religion  divorced  from  ethics ; 
a  Churcli  silent  in  the  presence  of  intemperance 
and  slavery  ;  without  missionary  zeal  or  mission- 
ary organization ;  threatened  by  the  intellectual 
revolt  which  eventually  carried  from  it  some  of  its 
wisest  and  noblest  men  ;  and  surrounded  by  a  com- 
munity lapsing  into  indifference  and  neglect  or 
combining  in  open  and  cynical  infidelity. 

But  already  conscience  was  beginning  to  protest 
within  the  Church  against  these  spiritual  condi- 
tions. Dr.  Timothy  Dwight  in  New  Haven  put 
the  infidelity  of  Thomas  Paine  on  trial  by  a  re- 
statement of  Christian  doctrine  in  more  rational 
forms  than  those  which  had  created  the  infidel 
reaction  against  Christianity.  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher 
in  Boston  restated  orthodox  doctrine  in  reply  to 
the  criticisms  of  Dr.  Channing,  and  in  such  a  way 
as  to  provoke  the  criticisms  of  the  conservative  in 
the  orthodox  churches.  Albert  Barnes  was  put  on 
trial  in  Philadelphia  for  teaching  that  God  is  love 
and  man  is  free.  Drs.  Finney  and  Nettleton  em- 
phasized their  faith  in  a  new  theology  by  the  "  new 
measures  "  which  they  inaugurated  in  revivals  of 
religion.  The  organization  in  1810  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions 
was  followed  by  the  organization  of  the  American 
Home  Missionary  Society  ^  in  1826.  The  first 
gun  in  the  long  temperance  campaign,  fired  by 
Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  in  1826,  was  followed  by  the 

^  The  name  has  since  been  changed  to  The  Congregational 
Home  Missionary  Society. 


10  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

organization  of  the  Washingtonian  Society  and  the 
birth  of  the  Washingtonian  Movement  in  1840. 
Into  this  atmosphere  of  awakening  life  Henry- 
Ward  Beecher  was  born,  and  in  it  he  grew  up  to 
manhood.  The  theological  movement  which  had 
radically  changed  the  character  and  spirit  of  the 
Church  had  in  America  many  leaders  ;  chief  among 
them  I  count  Horace  Bushnell,  Charles  G.  Finney, 
and  Henry  Ward  Beecher  :  the  first,  the  prophet 
of  faith ;  the  second,  the  prophet  of  hope ;  the 
third,  the  prophet  of  love. 

Dr.  Emmons  died  in  1840,  the  last  of  the  merely 
logical  preachers  of  New  England  ;  and  with  him 
died  the  orthodox  rationalism  which,  up  to  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  dominated  the 
Puritan  pulpit.  This  rationalism  assumed  that 
man  is  a  reasonable  creature ;  that  the  reason  is 
the  supreme  faculty ;  that  this  reason  is  to  be  con- 
vinced by  the  truth ;  and  when  it  is  convinced,  the 
will  must  of  necessity  obey ;  and  that  when  this 
result  is  reached,  the  man  is  a  converted  man  and 
a  new  creature.  Such  was  the  philosophy  which, 
sometimes  avowed,  sometimes  unrecognized,  under- 
lay the  earlier  Puritan  preaching.  The  whole 
fabric  of  the  religious  life  was  built  hy  logical  pro- 
cesses, with  doctrine,  on  the  human  reason.  But 
all  men  are  not  logical,  and  aU  men  do  not  obey 
the  truth  even  when  it  is  made  clear  to  their  lo- 
gical imderstanding.  Spiritual  truth  is  not  mined 
by  picks  and  beaten  out  by  hammers ;  it  is  not  to 
be  arrived  at  by  slow  processes  of  demonstration, 


'     THE  MEANING  OF  MR.   BEECHER'S  LIFE    11 

but  to  be  apprehended  and  appreciated  upon  the 
bare  presentation  of  it.  Truth  is  a  form  of  life ; 
and  only  as  it  is  received  as  a  life,  vitalizing  and 
dominating  the  soul,  is  it  spiritually  efficacious. 
Of  this  philosophy,  which  is  more  than  a  philo- 
sophy, Horace  Bushnell  was  the  chief  exponent  in 
the  Puritan  churches.  That  the  invisible  world 
is  immediately  and  directly  seen  by  the  spirit  of 
men  ;  that  God  is  no  mere  hypothesis  to  account  for 
the  phenomena  of  creation,  but  man's  best  friend, 
his  Father,  and  intimate  personal  companion  ;  that 
inspiration  is  no  remote  phenomenon,  once  attested 
by  miracles  now  buried  forever  in  the  grave  of  a 
dead  God,  but  the  universal  and  eternal  commun- 
ion between  living  souls  and  the  living  God ;  that 
the  Bible  is  no  infallible  record  offered  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  such  communion,  but  a  ^prophetical  illus- 
tration of  its  reality  and  an  incentive  to  its  con- 
tinuance ;  that  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  infinitely 
more  than  any  theory  of  atonement,  and  that  no 
theory  of  atonement  can  comprehend  the  full  mean- 
ing of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  —  these  were  not  the 
theories  of  a  philosopher,  but  the  vital  convictions, 
because  the  living  experiences,  of  the  saint,  whose 
sainthood  must  be  in  the  heart  of  the  critic  of 
Horace  Bushnell  before  he  can  criticise,  and  in  the 
heart  of  the  disciple  before  he  can  comprehend. 

This  progress  toward  a  more  spiritual  apprehen- 
sion of  truth  'carried  with  it  a  clearer  conception 
of  human  liberty.  All  theories  of  fatalism  fall 
away  before  the  personal  test  of  seK-consciousness. 


12  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

That  man  is  a  free  moral  agent ;  that  he  can  do 
right  and  is  therefore  blameworthy  for  doing 
wrong ;  that  he  is  sinful  —  not  because  he  was 
made  so,  but  because  he  had  made  himself  so : 
the  nineteenth  century  is  the  century  of  political 
and  industrial  emancipation,  because  in  the  redis- 
covery of  this  truth  it  has  won  spiritual  emancipa- 
tion. The  Lutherans  have  long  since  disowned 
Luther's  theory  of  a  secret  counsel  of  God.  The 
Calvinists  have  abandoned  John  Calvin's  doctrine 
that  man  lost  moral  freedom  by  the  Fall.  The 
doctrines  of  limited  atonement  and  of  uncondi- 
tional election,  though  they  may  still  be  preserved 
in  fossiliferous  creeds,  are  rarely,  if  ever,  dragged 
forth  from  their  archaeological  retreat,  at  least  by 
any  son  of  the  Puritan  in  any  Puritan  church. 
Civilization  disowns  them  absolutely,  unanimously, 
and  with  indignation.  The  power  of  Charles  G. 
Finney  lay  in  his  vigorous  and  vehement  interpre- 
tation of  this  indignant  protest  within  the  orthodox 
Church  against  the  spirit  of  fatalism.  His  clarion- 
like voice,  his  logical  mind,  his  legal  education,  his 
intensity  of  conviction,  his  singularly  unaiffected 
and  unconventional  piety,  his  impressive  personal- 
ity, combined  with  his  overmastering  sense  of 
man's  liberty  and  therefore  of  man's  responsibility, 
made  him  the  most  remarkable  revival  preacher 
of  his  age.  To  men  paralyzed  by  the  despair 
engendered  by  fatalism,  his  message  was.  You  can, 
therefore  you  may  ;  to  men  paralyzed  by  the  indif- 
ference engendered  by  fatalism,  his  message  was, 


THE  MEANING  OF  MR.  BEECHER'S  LIFE    13 

You  can,  therefore  you  must.  Liberty  and  re- 
sponsibility are  always  coterminous  ;  hope  and  duty 
are  different  aspects  of  the  same  experience.  Dr. 
Finney  was  the  preacher  of  liberty  and  responsi- 
bility ;  he  was  therefore  an  apostle  of  duty  and  of 
hope. 

If  Horace  BushneU  was  the  apostle  of  faith, 
and  Charles  G.  Finney  was  the  apostle  of  hope, 
Mr.  Beecher  was  characteristically  the  apostle  of 
love.  The  Puritan  did  not  believe  that  God  is 
love.  His  conception  of  God  was  represented  by 
the  phrase  most  commonly  used  to  describe  him  — 
"The  Moral  Governor  of  the  Universe."  The 
phrase  "  Fatherhood  of  God "  is  rarely  found  in 
the  sermons  of  the  older  Puritan  divines.  The 
dominant  doctrine  concerning  God  in  the  Puritan 
churches  in  the  first  third  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury is  fairly  represented  in  Dr.  Edward  Payson's 
sermon  on  "  Jehovah,  a  King  "  :  "  Jehovah  is  a 
great  king ;  under  obligations  to  make  laws  for  his 
subjects  ;  the  best  and  wisest  laws  possible  ;  and  to 
enforce  those  laws  and  inflict  the  threatened  pun- 
ishment on  all  who  transgress  them."  The  dom- 
inant doctrine  concerning  the  Bible  is  represented 
by  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher's  sermon  in  1817  on  "  The 
Bible  a  Code  of  Laws  "  :  "  The  word  of  God  is  a 
code  of  law  which  the  jMoral  Governor  of  the  Uni- 
verse has  given  us  to  set  forth  his  glory." 

To  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  from  that  day  in  May 
when  the  vision  was  afforded  to  him  which  he  has  re- 
counted, Christ  was  God ;  not  a  messenger  sent  from 


14  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

God ;  not  a  Someone  coming  between  God  and  the 
human  soul  to  appease  God  and  admit  the  human 
soul  to  the  privileges  of  a  purchased  mercy  ;  not 
a  manifestation  of  the  mercy  of  God,  holding  back 
for  a  little  while  the  wrath  of  God,  as  hounds  are 
held  back  by  the  leash  until  it  is  cut  and  they  are 
set  free  ;  but  God  manifest  in  the  flesh  :  no  wrath 
in  God  that  was  not  in  Christ  ;  no  justice  in  God 
that  there  was  not  in  Christ ;  no  judgment  which 
God  has  ever  rendered  or  ever  will  render  that 
Christ  has  not  typified  in  his  earthly  judgments  on 
Publican  and  Pharisee ;  no  meekness,  tenderness, 
sympathy,  patience,  long-suffering  in  Christ  that 
are  not  in  the  Father  whom  he  manifested  on  the 
earth.  This  to  Mr.  Beecher  was  not  a  theory  :  it 
was  a  vital  experience.  He  honored  Christ  as  he 
honored  the  Father ;  to  him  all  revelation  of  God 
was  in  Christ,  all  revelation  of  duty  was  in  Christ's 
life,  all  revelation  of  truth  was  in  Christ's  teach- 
ing. Criticised  because  he  lectured  in  Boston 
upon  Theodore  Parker's  platform,  he  thus  replied 
to  the  intimation  that  he  was  at  one  with  Theodore 
Parker  in  his  religious  beliefs :  — 

Could  Theodore  Parker  worship  my  God  ?  —  Christ 
Jesus  is  his  name.  All  that  there  is  of  God  to  me  is 
bound  up  in  that  name.  A  dim  and  shadowy  effluence 
rises  from  Christ,  and  that  I  am  taught  to  call  the  Father. 
A  yet  more  tenuous  and  invisible  film  of  thought  arises, 
and  that  is  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  neither  are  to  me 
aught  tangible,  restful,  accessible.  They  are  to  be  re- 
vealed to  my  knowledge  hereafter,  but  now  only  to  my 


THE  MEANING  OF  MR.  BEECHER'S  LIFE    15 

faith.  But  Christ  stands  my  manifest  God.  All  that 
I  know  is  of  him,  and  in  him.  I  put  my  soul  into  his 
arms,  as,  when  I  was  born,  my  father  put  me  into  my 
mother's  arms.  I  draw  all  my  life  from  him.  I 
bear  him  in  my  thoughts  hourly,  as  I  humbly  believe 
that  he  also  bears  me.  For  I  do  truly  believe  that  we 
love  each  other !  —  I,  a  speck,  a  particle,  a  nothing,  only 
a  mere  beginning  of  something  that  is  gloriously  yet  to 
be  when  the  warmth  of  God's  bosom  shall  have  been 
a  summer  for  my  growth  ;  —  and  HE,  the  Wonderful 
Counselor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father, 
the  Prince  of  Peace  ! 

How  this  faith  grew  up  in  Mr.  Beecher,  how  as 
a  boy  he  was  prepared  for  it,  what  it  came  to  mean 
to  him,  what  in  theological  and  ethical  instruction 
it  involved,  how  far  he  was  faithful  to  it,  and  what 
effect  his  preaching  of  it  by  pen  and  voice  has  pro- 
duced in  the  life  of  the  American  people,  it  will 
be  the  purpose  of  this  volume  to  show.  For  in 
this  faith  we  find  the  key  to  the  interpretation  of 
his  character  and  his  career,  as  a  preacher,  a  moral 
reformer,  an  editor,  a  lecturer,  and  an  author. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   MAKING    OF   THE   MAN 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  born  in  Litchfield, 
Connecticut,  June  24,  1813,  the  eighth  child  of 
Lynian  and  Roxana  Foote  Beecher.^  I  make  no 
attempt  to  trace  his  genealogy  farther  back ;  those 
who  desire  to  do  so  will  find  the  material  in  the 
"  Autobiography  and  Correspondence  of  Lyman 
Beecher." 

Lyman  Beecher  was  a  Congregational  minister, 
who  attained  in  his  day  an  eminence  scarcely  less  than 
that  which  his  son  later  attained.  During  his  active 
pastorate  (1798-1834)  the  country  was  smaller ;  the 
means  of  intercommunication  less;  there  were  no 
railroads ;  steamboats  were  just  coming  into  use ; 
the  telegraph  did  not  exist ;  newsj)apers  were  few 
and  poorly  equipped,  and  rarely  gave  reports  of  ser- 
mons or  religious  assemblages  ;  the  questions  which 
stirred  the  public  excited  neither  the  passion  of  en- 
thusiasm nor  the  passion  of  rancor  which  was  aroused 
by  the  antislavery  conflict  and  the  Civil  War.  For 
these  reasons,  if  for  no  other,  the  reputation  of  the 

^  The  statement  in  the  family  Biography  of  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  that  he  was  the  ninth  child  (page  41)  is  evidently  a  slip 
of  either  pen  or  type,  as  appears  from  a  comparison  with  other 
statements  in  the  B iof/rophy  und  vfith  the  Autobiography  and  Cor- 
resjjondtnce  uf  Lyman  Beecher. 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  17 

father  never  extended  so  widely  as  that  of  the  son. 
But  contemporaries  who  were  familiar  with  both 
not  infrequently  rated  the  elder  preacher  as  the 
equal  in  forcefulness  and  power  of  the  younger.  I 
recall,  as  one  of  the  dim  memories  of  my  boyhood, 
a  sermon  which  I  heard  Lyman  Beecher  preach  in 
Boston  something  over  half  a  century  ago,  probably 
after  his  retirement  from  the  active  ministry.  It 
was  directed  against  the  doctrine  that  man  can  be 
saved  by  good  works.  I  recall  the  figure  of  the 
preacher,  the  spectacles  upon  the  nose  while  he  was 
reading  his  notes  and  thrust  up  upon  the  forehead 
or  sometimes  held  in  the  hand  while  he  was  extem- 
porizing, the  impassioned  gestures,  the  torrent  of 
words,  the  vehemence  of  conviction  behind  them, 
and  the  general  outline  of  the  sermon  —  an  imagi- 
nary ledger  page,  with  the  good  deeds  put  on  the 
credit  side,  and  the  failures,  the  omissions,  and  the 
sins  on  the  debit  side,  and  the  balance  cast  up  at 
the  foot  of  the  page.  More  than  this  I  do  not 
recall.  But  I  am  sure  that  no  sermon  would  be 
remembered  by  me  for  fifty  years  if  it  had  not 
been  one  of  extraordinary  impressiveness.  In  fact 
there  is  only  one  other  sermon,  only  two  addresses 
of  any  kind,  of  that  period,  that  have  left  any 
impression  on  my  mind  :  the  first,  a  sermon  by 
the  elder  Tyng  to  young  men  ;  the  second,  the 
address  by  Daniel  Webster  given  in  1850,  in 
Niblo's  Garden. 

Both  the  theological  and  the  moral  issues  of  1813 
were  very  different  from  those  of  the  latter  haK  of 


18  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

the  nineteenth  century.  In  theology  the  burning 
questions  were  two  :  one,  Is  man  a  free  moral  agent, 
or  is  he  under  unalterable  decrees  of  an  omnipotent 
Creator?  the  other,  Is  man  so  ruined  in  the  Fall 
that  he  can  be  saved  only  by  divine  omnipotent 
grace  through  Jesus  Christ,  or  is  he  by  nature  a 
child  of  God,  possessing  God's  nature,  needing  little 
more  than  the  corrections  which  come  through 
normal  development  and  healthful  education,  and 
is  Jesus  Christ  only  a  teacher  to  direct  him  and 
an  examj)le  for  him  to  f oUow  ? 

It  seems  strange  now  to  read,  in  a  letter  of  one 
of  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher's  contemporaries  written  to 
him  in  1816,  the  following  sentence  :  "  The  doc- 
trines of  free  agency  and  sinners'  immediate  duty 
to  repent  do  wonders  among  my  people.  I  preach 
them  publicly  and  privately.  I  have  no  fear.  My 
congregation  the  first  Sabbath  I  preached  after  I 
got  home  stared  as  if  I  was  crazy.  '  I  am  not  mad, 
most  noble  Festus.'  "  It  is  difficult  for  us  to-day  to 
imagine  a  condition  in  which  such  preaching  should 
have  aroused  opposition,  excited  enthusiasm,  and 
produced  revivals  ;  but  such  was  the  fact.  Dr.  Ly- 
man Beecher  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  this,  which 
was  then  the  "  new  theology,"  and  he  employed 
freely  what  were  then  known  as  the  "  new  methods : " 
the  prayer-meeting,  the  revival  sermon,  the  inquiry 
bench,  rising  for  prayer,  and  the  open  confession  of 
Christ.  A  little  later,  when  he  moved  from  Litch- 
field to  Boston,  he  represented  the  conservative  ten- 
dencies in  opposition  to  Unitarianism,  as  before  he 


THE  MAKING   OF  THE  MAN  19 

had  represented  the  progressive  tendencies  in  oppo- 
sition to  Calvinism,  and  became  by  dint  of  his  force- 
fulness  and  the  earnestness  of  his  convictions  and 
his  dramatic  and  oratorical  ability  the  representa- 
tive of  the  Orthodox,  as  Channing  was  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Unitarians.  He  was  by  nature  a 
warrior  and  delighted  in  battle.  Theology  was  to 
him  no  dry  and  jejune  science,  but  living  and  prac- 
tical. Truth  was  instrumental ;  his  problem  always 
how  so  to  use  it  as  to  stir,  quicken,  and  develop  life. 
He  brought  his  theological  controversies  into  the 
home  circle,  and  set  his  boys  arguing  with  him  on 
every  kind  of  question,  political,  moral,  and  theo- 
logical. He  thus  developed  their  mental  muscle, 
taught  them  to  do  their  own  thinking,  and  to  stand 
by  their  convictions  and  defend  them  against  strong 
opposition.  He  had  a  delightful,  naive,  childlike 
egotism,  quite  free  from  self-conceit,  yet  inspiring 
him  with  a  kind  of  self-assurance  which  is  often 
the  precursor  of  victory.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
once  said  to  me  :  "  My  father  always  had  the  angel 
of  hope  looking  over  his  shoulder  when  he  wrote. 
I  have  always  wi-itten  with  the  angel  of  sorrow 
perched  upon  my  pen  ;  success  has  always  come  as 
a  surprise  to  me."  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  a 
man  of  many  moods,  and  it  was  not  safe  to  take 
too  seriously  such  a  self -interpretation,  but  that  he 
rightly  interpreted  his  father  I  have  no  doubt.  The 
father's  "  Autobiography  and  Correspondence  "  af- 
fords many  illustrations  of  this  wholly  unconscious 
egotism  ;  one  instance  will  suffice  to  make   clear 


20  HENRY  WAKD   BEECHER 

to  the  sympathetic  reader  this  characteristic.  The 
death  of  Alexander  Hamilton  in  his  duel  with 
Aaron  Burr  had  shocked  the  whole  country.  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher  had  taken  the  occasion  to  write  and 
preach  a  sermon  on  dueling,  which  being  published 
created  no  little  stir.  He  followed  it  with  a  resolu- 
tion in  the  synod  at  Newark,  New  Jersey,  —  for  at 
this  time  he  was  settled  in  East  Hampton,  Long 
Island,  and  was  in  the  Presbytery,  —  recommending 
the  formation  of  societies  against  dueling.  What 
ensued  he  thus  describes  :  — 

I  anticipated  no  opposition.    Everything  seemed  go- 
ing straight.    But  next  morning  a  strong  reaction  was 

developed,  led  by  Dr. .     The  fact  was,  a  class  of 

men  in  his  parish,  politically  affiliated  with  men  of 
dueling  principles,  went  to  him  and  said  the  thing  must 
be  stopped.  He  came  into  the  house  and  made  opposi- 
tion, and  thereupon  others  joined,  and  it  suddenly  raised 
such  a  storm  as  I  never  was  in  before  nor  since.  The 
opposition  came  up  like  a  squall,  sudden  and  furious, 
and  there  I  was,  the  thunder  and  lightning  right  in  my 
face;  but  I  did  not  back  out.  When  my  turn  came,  I 
rose  and  knocked  away  their  arguments,  and  made  them 
ludicrous.  Never  made  an  argument  so  short,  strong, 
and  pointed  in  my  life.  I  shall  never  forget  it.  There 
was  a  large  body;  house  full;  my  opponent  a  D.  D. ; 
and  I  was  only  thirty,  a  young  man  nobody  had  ever 
heard  of.  I  shall  never  forget  the  looks  of  Dr.  Miller 
after  I  began  to  let  off.  He  put  on  his  spectacles,  came 
round  till  he  got  right  opposite  to  where  I  stood,  and 
there  he  stared  at  me  with  perfect  amazement.  Oh,  I 
declare !  if  I  did  not  switch  'em,  and  scorch  'em,  and 
stamp  on  'em !    It  swept  all  before  it.    Dr. made 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  21 

no  reply.    It  was  the  centre  of  old  fogyism,  but  I  mowed 
it  down,  «,nd  carried  the  vote  of  the  house. ^ 

From  this  incident  the  reader  will  correctly  sur- 
mise that  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  carried  into  ethical 
questions  the  same  intensity  of  conviction  and  fiery 
earnestness  which  he  carried  into  theological  con- 
troversies. He  was  more  of  a  theologian  than  his 
son,  but  he  was  not  less  a  moral  reformer.  Drink- 
ing in  his  time  was  universal ;  drunkenness  was 
common ;  alcoholic  liquors  were  always  provided 
at  church  ordinations,  and  not  infrequently  by  the 
church,  and  charged  in  as  a  part  of  its  expenses. 
It  was  customary  to  appoint  a  committee  on  tem- 
perance at  the  General  Association,  and  it  was  cus- 
tomary for  the  committee  to  satisfy  itself  with 
platitudes.  In  1812  a  committee  of  the  General 
Association  of  Massachusetts  brought  in  a  report 
of  this  description,  the  gist  of  it  being,  as  Lyman 
Beecher  afterwards  summarized  it,  that  intemper- 
ance had  been  for  some  time  increasing  in  a  most 
alarming  manner,  but  that  the  committee  were 
obliged  to  confess  that  they  did  not  perceive  that 
anything  could  be  done.  This  report  of  inabihty 
was  just  the  thing  to  stir  the  blood  of  Lyman 
Beecher.  He  rose  instantly  and  moved  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  new  committee  ;  he  was  necessarily  made 
its  chairman ;  and  the  next  day  he  brought  in  a 
report  which  he  characterizes  as  "  the  most  impor- 
tant paper  that  ever  I  wrote."    This  was  followed 

1  Autobiography  and  Correspondence  of  Lyman  Beecher,  vol.  L 
p.  153. 


22  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

by  a  series  of  resolutions  recommending  the  min- 
isters to  preacli  on  the  subject  of  temperance,  the 
churches  to  discontinue  the  use  of  ardent  spirits  at 
church  meetings,  and  the  people  to  cease  using 
them  as  part  of  hospitable  entertainment  in  social 
visits,  to  substitute  palatable  and  nutritious  drinks 
in  the  place  of  alcohol  in  providing  for  the  work- 
ingmen  on  the  farm  and  elsewhere,  and  to  cooper- 
ate with  the  civil  magistrates  in  the  execution  of 
the  laws.  He  did  not  at  that  time  urge  total 
abstinence.  Fourteen  years  later  he  preached  a 
famous  series  of  sermons  on  temperance,  which  was 
one  of  the  causes  that  led  to  the  great  Washing- 
tonian  Movement. 

Such  was  the  father  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
The  mother  was  not  less  remarkable,  though  in 
temperament  and  character  singularly  different. 
Roxana  Foote  came  of  a  Cavalier  ancestry,  and 
her  family  had  remained  loyal  to  King  George 
throughout  the  American  Revolution.  She  was 
early  confirmed  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  re- 
mained attached  to  its  ceremonial ;  but  the  reader 
must  remember  that  the  Episcopal  Church  at  that 
time  was  in  its  religious  conceptions,  if  not  in  its 
theological  dogmas,  as  Puritan  as  the  Congrega- 
tional Church.  Her  temperament  was  poetic.  She 
was  a  lover  of  polite  literature,  a  great  lover  of 
nature,  and  would  surely  have  been  an  enthusiastic 
lover  of  art  and  music  had  she  lived  under  cir- 
cumstances in  which  she  could  have  indulged  and 
developed  such  a  love.     She  wrote  and  spoke  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  23 

French  language  fluently ;  sang,  accompanying 
her  voice  on  the  guitar ;  had  considerable  skill  in 
the  use  of  the  pencil  and  the  brush ;  and  notable 
skill  in  the  various  uses  of  the  needle,  from  plain 
sewing  to  fine  embroidery.  Her  delicate  and  sen- 
sitive nature  incapacitated  her  for  certain  of  the 
functions  which  at  that  time  in  New  England  a 
pastor's  wife  was  expected  to  perform  ;  for  she  was 
so  sensitive  and  of  so  great  natural  timidity  that 
she  never  spoke  in  company  or  before  strangers 
without  blushing,  and  was  absolutely  unable  to 
lead  the  devotions  in  the  women's  prayer-meetings. 
Yet  with  this  personal  timidity  was  intermingled 
that  peculiar  strength  which  comes  from  close  and 
intimate  communion  with  God.  Gentle  and  yet 
strong,  lover  of  peace  yet  glorying  in  her  husband's 
battles  and  in  his  victories,  wholly  at  one  with  him 
in  a  supreme  consecration  to  God,  her  piety  of 
spirit  and  her  placidity  of  temperament  combined 
to  give  to  her  an  equipoise  which  made  her  the 
trusted  counselor  of  her  husband,  on  whose  judg- 
ment he  depended,  and  in  whose  calm  his  own 
more  turbulent  spirit  found  rest. 

She  died  when  Henry  was  but  three  years  old, 
yet  her  influence  remained  a  potent  factor  in  the 
formation  of  his  character.  From  her  he  inherited 
his  love  of  nature,  of  music,  and  of  art ;  from  her 
the  susceptibility  to  culture,  which  his  education 
never  fully  developed ;  from  her  that  femininity 
of  character,  that  tenderness  and  sweetness  of 
spirit,  which  endeared  him  to  those  who  knew  him 


24  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

best,  but  was  almost  wholly  unrevealed  to  tbe 
world  without,  and  sometimes  assumed  by  censori- 
ous critics  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  dramatic  as- 
sumption. To  her  also  must  perhaps  be  attributed 
his  affection  for  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
which  he  loved  and  read,  but  never,  I  think,  used 
in  public.  I  fancy  he  never  could  have  become  an 
Episcopal  clergyman ;  the  spontaneity  of  his 
character,  his  unconventionalism,  his  serene  dis- 
regard of  traditions  of  every  kind,  would  have 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  express  his  devo- 
tional spirit  in  words  selected  for  or  imposed  upon 
him  by  others.  His  love  and  reverence  for  her  he 
retained  throughout  his  life.  He  was  accustomed 
to  say  that  through  his  feeling  for  this  almost  un- 
known mother  he  could  understand  the  feeling  of 
the  devout  Eoman  Catholic  for  the  Virgin  Mary. 
Do  those  who  die  remain  as  guardian  angels  to 
guide,  to  guard,  and  to  inspire  us  ?  The  question 
is  one  which  it  is  impossible  to  answer.  Certainly 
the  affirmative  cannot  be  demonstrated,  but  cer- 
tainly there  is  much  to  warrant  the  hope,  if  not  to 
sustain  the  hypothesis.  Perhaps  it  is  my  own  half 
conscious  experience  of  the  influence  of  a  mother 
who  died  in  my  early  childhood  which  makes  me 
the  more  ready  to  believe  that  this  mother's  per- 
sonal influence  over  her  boy  of  strange  contradic- 
tions did  not  end  when  God  took  her  from  his 
sight.  About  a  year  after  the  mother's  death  the 
father  married  Miss  Harriet  F.  Porter,  of  Port- 
land, Maine,  —  "a  beautiful  lady,  very  fair,  with 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  25 

bright  blue  eyes  and  soft  brown  hair,  bound  round 
with  a  black  velvet  bandeau,"  but  "  so  fair,  so  deli- 
cate, so  elegant  that  we  [children]  were  almost 
afraid  to  go  near  her."  i  Serene,  ladylike,  pol- 
ished, never  lacking  in  self-possession,  but  stately 
and  not  easy  of  approach,  she  inspired  the  children 
with  a  reverential  affection,  but  even  more  with 
awe.  It  was  impossible  that  Henry  should  ever 
have  become  intimate  with  her.  His  nature  was 
too  shy,  hers  too  reserved.  Yet  indirectly  she 
strongly  affected  his  early  experience  by  intensify- 
ing his  awe  of  religion  as  something  preternatural, 
and  by  cultivating  in  him  a  habit  of  self-inquiry 
and  self-reproach  that  were  quite  foreign  to  the 
healthful  development  of  so  exuberant  a  nature. 

The  father,  mother,  and  stepmother  were  not  the 
only  ones  who  exercised  a  strong  formative  influ- 
ence over  Henry  Ward.  He  came  into  a  family 
of  brothers  and  sisters,  each  of  whom  possessed 
a  strongly  marked  individuality.  It  would  indeed  if 
be  difficult  to  name  another  family  in  our  times  ) 
in  which  were  so  many  children  who  in  after  life 
developed  character  akin  to  genius.  Catharine,  as 
a  school-teacher,  became  one  of  the  jDioneers  in 
the  movement  for  giving  woman  a  higher  educa- 
tion, a  movement  whose  consummation  she  did  not 
live  to  see.  Edward,  as  coUege  president  in  the 
West  and  as  pastor  in  the  East,  attained  no  incon- 
siderable eminence  as  educator,  preacher,  and  theo- 
logian.   Harriet  became  perhaps  the  most  famous 

^  Mrs.  Stowe  :  quoted  in  Biography,  p.  54. 


26  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

of  all  American  novelists.  This  was  not  wholly 
because  a  great  historical  situation  gave  to  her 
dramatic  ability  a  rare  opportunity  of  which  she 
availed  herself  in  writing  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin." 
Had  she  never  written  this,  her  most  effective  and 
striking  fiction,  '•'•  The  Minister's  Wooing,"  would 
still  have  made  her  famous.  It  takes  a  place  in 
the  front  rank  of  historical  novels  as  a  graphic 
and  vital  picture  of  a  notable  epoch.  Charles,  as 
the  musical  collaborator  of  his  brother  Henry  in 
the  preparation  of  the  "  Plymouth  Collection," 
was  one  of  the  earlier  contributors  to  the  cause 
of  congregational  singing,  and,  although  his  music 
no  longer  survives,  and  his  editorial  judgment 
does  not  stand  the  test  of  later  musical  criticism, 
the  churches  of  Puritan  faith  and  order  owe  him 
no  little  debt  for  the  impulse  he  gave  to  con- 
gregational singing.  A  haK  brother,  Thomas  K. 
Beecher,  built  up  in  Elmira,  New  York,  an  insti- 
tutional church  before  the  institutional  church 
had  been  heard  of,  and  it  remains  to  this  day 
one  of  the  best  conceived,  in  its  equipment,  of 
any  of  its  class.  So  unique  was  the  family  that 
the  classification  of  humanity,  suggested  by  some 
American  wit,  has  passed  into  a  proverb :  he 
divided  mankind  into  "  the  good,  the  bad,  and  the 
Beechers." 

There  were  other  members  of  the  family,  too,  of 
whose  influence  in  the  formation  of  Henry's  char- 
acter account  must  be  taken.  There  was  Aunt 
Esther,  Lyman  Beecher's  half  sister,  who,  after 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  27 

the  death  of  the  mother,  became  the  caretaker  and 
housekeeper ;  who  was,  as  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
once  said,  "  so  good  and  modest  that  she  would 
spend  ages  in  Heaven  wondering  how  it  ever  hap- 
pened that  she  ever  got  there,  and  that  all  the 
angels  will  be  wondering  why  she  was  not  there 
from  all  eternity  ;  "  in  whom  with  this  modesty 
and  goodness  was  combined  the  Puritan  conscience 
applied  in  that  housekeeping  which  was  her  spe- 
cific sphere  ;  who  was  anxious,  self -exacting,  seK- 
distrustful,  but  never  fault-finding ;  a  close  econo- 
mist, keeping  house  for  Mr.  Lyman  Beecher,  who 
was  a  careless  though  never  a  self-indulgent 
spender;  a  thorough  believer  in  the  maxim  that 
order  is  the  first  law  of  Heaven ;  superintending  a 
house  whose  master  was  too  impetuous  and  eager 
to  observe  that  law,  but  whose  unselfishness  of 
disposition  prevented  the  friction  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  inevitable.  There  was  Aunt  Mary, 
the  mother's  sister,  who  was  a  lover  of  Hterature 
and  fiction,  and  a  beautiful  reader,  and  was  accus- 
tomed to  read  from  Irving  and  Walter  Scott  to  the 
family  circle.  Although  she  died  a  few  months 
after  Henry  Ward  was  born,  she  left  a  sacred 
memory  and  a  sacred  influence  behind  her.  There 
was  Uncle  Samuel,  the  mother's  sea-captain  brother, 
who  made  occasional  incursions  into  the  family, 
bringing  all  sorts  of  mementoes  from  foreign  shores, 
with  exciting  stories  of  his  adventures,  and  whose 
humorously  combative  nature  led  him  to  glorify 
the  virtues  of  the  Turks  and  the  pagans  and  the 


28  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

Jews,  and  arouse  the  master  of  the  house  to  long 
and  heated  discussions,  semi-theologicah 

There  was  the  society  of  the  town  also  to  share 
in  moulding  the  character  of  the  boy.  In  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  manufacturing 
was  in  its  infancy ;  there  were  no  factory  towns  ; 
and  the  concentration  of  population  in  great  cities 
had  not  yet  begun.  The  English  habit  of  living  in 
the  country  was  still  continued ;  and  the  best  society 
was  found  in  the  rural  districts.  There  were  excel- 
lent schools,  which  made  Litchfield  an  educational 
centre.  It  was  a  county  town,  and  there  gathered 
here  from  time  to  time,  for  days  together,  leading 
members  of  the  bar.  Its  church  was  a  social  centre, 
and  it  was  ambitious  to  have  an  able  and  intellectual 
preacher,  and  was  proud  of  the  one  it  had.  In  the 
autobiography  of  Lyman  Beecher  it  is  said  that 

Count ,  who  in  youth  had  spent  some  years  in 

Litchfield  as  a  student  of  the  law  school,  in  later 
life,  though  he  had  in  the  interim  moved  in  the 
highest  circles  of  French  society,  dwelt  with  enthu- 
siasm on  the  society  of  Litchfield,  which  he  declared 
was  the  most  charming  in  the  world.  Some  allow- 
ance must  be  made  for  the  politeness  of  a  French- 
man, and  for  the  imperfection  of  an  old  man's 
recollections,  but  the  testimony  is  significant. 

In  such  society  and  in  such  a  family  let  the 
reader  imagine  Henry  Ward  Beecher  growing  up. 
The  family  government  was  firm  but  not  rigid ; 
in  general  gentle,  occasionally  severe.  Prompt  obe- 
dience was  required.    Two  or  three  experiences  of 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  29 

discipline  at  the  father's  hand  were  sufficient  to 
teach  this  lesson ;  thereafter  a  decided  word  from 
father  or  mother  was  always  sufficient.  These 
occasions  of  discipline  did  nothing  to  break  the 
fellowship  between  the  father  and  the  child.  The 
father's  chief  daily  recreations  were  frolics  with 
his  children.  "  I  remember  him,"  says  Catharine 
Beecher,  "  more  as  a  playmate  than  in  any  other 
character  during  my  childhood.  He  was  fond  of 
playing  pranks  upon  us,  and  trying  the  queerest 
experiments  with  us,  for  his  amusement  as  well  as 
ours.  I  remember  once  he  swung  me  out  of  the 
garret  window  by  the  hands,  to  see  if  it  would 
frighten  me,  which  it  did  not  in  the  least."  The 
father  was  fond  of  fishing,  and  took  the  children 
often  with  him  on  his  fishing  excursions.  He  shared, 
too,  the  chores  and  work  of  the  household  with  the 
boys  ;  and  often  lightened  the  household  duties  with 
story-telling,  one  of  the  children  giving,  while  the 
rest  worked,  the  best  account  he  could  of  incidents 
in  one  of  Scott's  novels,  which  they  had  recently 
read  together  in  the  family  circle.  A  Puritan  family 
it  certainly  was,  in  the  strength  of  its  conscience, 
in  the  authority  of  law,  in  the  exactitude  of  obedi- 
ence required.  But  the  picture  which  in  after  years 
remained  on  the  minds  of  the  children  was  not  like 
the  conventional  picture  of  the  Puritan  home.  It 
is  thus  portrayed  by  Mrs  Stowe :  "  One  of  the 
most  vivid  impressions  of  the  family  as  it  was  in 
my  childish  days  was  of  a  great  household  inspired 
by  the  spirit  of  cheerfulness  and  hilarity,  and  of 


30  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

my  father,  although  pressed  and  driven  with  busi- 
ness, always  lending  an  attentive  ear  to  anything 
in  the  way  of  life  and  social  fellowship." 

Outside  the  family  there  were  none  who  exer- 
cised any  very  direct  influence  in  moulding  the  char- 
acter of  the  growing  boy,  unless  possibly  the  very 
humble  serving-man,  whose  religion  was  simply 
emotive  and  im theological,  and  whom  Henry  Ward 
ever  after  held  in  grateful  remembrance.  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe,  however,  that  Mr.  Beecher's  grati- 
tude exaggerated  the  influence  which  Charles  Smith 
exerted  upon  him.  There  was  not  much  to  inspire 
in  the  church  services,  held  twice  every  Sunday  in 
the  meeting-house,  with  its  turnip-like  canopy  over 
the  minister's  head,  and  its  large  square  pews,  and 
its  singers'  seat,  and  its  quaint  fuguing  tunes,  or 
in  the  sermons,  unintended  and  unadapted  for  chil- 
dren ;  and  as  little  was  there  to  give  true  education 
in  the  district  school,  in  its  square  pine  building, 
blazing  in  the  unshaded  sun  in  summer,  with  its 
box-iron  stove  red-hot  in  winter,  and  under  the 
rigorous  and  unsympathetic  discipline  of  its  sharp- 
eyed  school-mistress,  "  precise,  unsympathetic,  keen, 
untiring." 

So  the  boy  grew  up  with  that  curious  contradict- 
ory nature,  so  often  recognized  in  after  life  as 
belonging  to  children,  so  rarely  recognized  in  the 
child  by  those  who  have  his  training.  To  observers 
he  seemed  simply  a  wild,  careless,  frolicsome  boy, 
full  of  pranks  and  mischief,  bubbling  over  with 
animal  spirits  ;  restless  in  school  and  in  church, 


THE  MAKING   OF  THE  MAN  31 

lover  of  nature,  lover  of  adventure.  Later,  when 
the  family  moved  to  Boston,  he  became  a  master 
spirit  among  the  schoolboys,  carrying  into  boyish 
battles  the  spirit  which  he  had  inherited  from  his 
father,  which  made  him  a  leader  in  many  a  youth- 
ful campaign  against  the  "  Prince  Streeters  "  and 
the  "  Charlestown  Pigs."  One  incident  of  this  boy 
life  which  he  records  serves  as  well  as  a  hundred 
to  illustrate  his  nature.  In  the  game  of  "  Follow 
Your  Leader  "  he  led  his  fellows  a  weary  and  peril- 
ous chase,  seeing  with  increasing  exhilaration  one 
after  another  drop  off  and  abandon  him,  until  at 
length,  from  the  bowsprit  of  a  ship  alongside  the 
wharf,  he  sprang  off  into  the  deep  water,  clothes 
all  on,  and  rose  to  the  surface  sputtering,  to  look 
back  and  see  the  last  two  boys  standing  on  the 
bowsprit,  not  daring  to  essay  the  feat  he  had 
achieved. 

Yet  all  this  time,  within  this  rough,  boisterous, 
romping,  healthy  boy  was  another  boy  — tender, 
delicate,  sensitive,  shy;  not  so  much  misunder- 
stood as  absolutely  not  understood.  His  father 
was  too  busy  to  be  his  comrade  in  the  quieter  expe- 
riences of  his  soul,  and,  truth  to  tell,  could  not 
have  understood  them,  no  matter  what  leisure  he 
might  have  had.  The  stepmother  was  too  saintly 
to  be  serviceable  to  a  boy  who  was  often  introver- 
sive,  self -examining,  self -torturing ;  who  had  only 
the  "  natural  virtues,"  which  his  father's  theology 
counted  no  evidence  of  a  regenerate  nature ;  who 
had  never  experienced  conversion  ;  who  thought  of 


32  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

his  father  and  his  second  mother  as  ready  to  die, 
and  of  himself  as  not  ready  to  die,  and  so  of  a 
great  gap  between  himself  and  them,  growing  ever 
wider  and  wider,  and  certain  to  issue  at  last  in  the 
great  gulf  which  separated  Lazarus  from  Dives. 
The  younger  generation  of  this  age  can  never 
understand  the  anguish  of  soul  suffered  by  chil- 
dren brought  up  in  even  the  more  liberal  schools 
of  Puritan  theology  of  the  olden  time,  in  which 
religion  was  regarded,  not  as  the  transfusion  of  all 
life  by  the  spirit  of  love  and  consecration,  but  as 
a  separate  and  preternatural  experience,  apart  from 
life,  into  which  one  could  come  only  by  a  spiritual 
cataclysm,  called  regeneration.  It  is  out  of  her 
own  experience  that  Mrs.  Stowe  has,  in  "  The 
Minister's  Wooing,"  so  graphically  described  the 
effects  of  this  theology  on  simple-hearted  natures. 

At  length  the  love  of  adventure  and  the  spirit  of 
unrest  combined  provoked  in  the  growing  boy  a 
resolve  to  go  to  sea.  His  wise  father  did  not  oppose 
him  —  rather  commended  him  ;  but  told  him  that 
for  success  in  this  he  must  have  a  course  in  mathe- 
matics and  navigation,  and  to  the  boy's  response, 
"  1  am  ready,"  answered  by  sending  him  to  Mt. 
Pleasant,  a  preparatory  school  at  Amherst,  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Here  came  a  new  and  potent  influence  in  the 
formation  of  his  character.  Up  to  this  time  he 
had  been  no  student,  and  by  his  instructors  was 
counted  rather  exceptionally  dull,  though  by  his 
companions    in    play  exceptionally    bright.    The 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  33 

teacher  of  mathematics  at  Mt.  Pleasant  school,  W. 
P.  Fitzgerald,  taught  him  to  conquer  in  studying  ; 
the  teacher  of  elocution,  John  Lovell,  inspired  him 
with  patience  to  endure  the  drudgery  of  a  daily 
drill.  Now  for  the  first  time,  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
he  began  to  put  into  brain  activity  the  force  and 
vigor  which  up  to  this  time  had  either  gone  into 
sports  or  had  been  worse  than  wasted  in  desultory 
wrestling  with  spiritual  problems  too  great  for  him. 
Ever  after  his  experience  at  Mt.  Pleasant  he  proved 
himseK  capable  of  that  hard  work  which  some  one 
has  declared  to  be  the  essence  of  genius.  It  has 
often  been  said  that  Mr.  Beecher  was  not  a  student. 
If  to  be  a  student  is  to  be  patient,  persistent,  assid- 
uous in  the  accumulation  of  facts  and  the  investi- 
gation of  minute  details,  it  is  true  Mr.  Beecher 
never  was  a  student.  He  was  accustomed  to  get 
the  results  of  such  investigations  from  others  for 
whose  ability  he  always  entertained  the  greatest 
respect.  But  if  to  be  a  student  is  to  formulate  to 
one's  self  the  problem  to  be  investigated,  to  gather 
light  from  all  sources  in  its  investigation,  and  in 
that  hght  to  wrestle  with  the  problem  until  a  solu- 
tion is  found  which  one  dares  defend  against  all 
opposers,  Mr.  Beecher  was  preeminently  a  student. 
He  was  no  mere  omnivorous  reader,  browsing 
among  books  for  self-indulgence,  nor  gathering 
from  them  simply  to  pass  on  to  others,  as  a  kind 
of  reporter,  what  he  had  read.  He  both  read  for 
a  purpose  and  used  to  good  purpose  what  he  read. 
For   this    capacity   to    study  questions,   to   reach 


34  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

results,  and  to  defend  them  against  all  assailants, 
lie  was  indebted  first  of  all  to  Lis  father,  next,  so 
I  judge  from  his  own  reminiscences,  to  the  Mt. 
Pleasant  preparatory  school. 

He  had  not  yet  joined  the  church,  for  he  had  not 
been  converted ;  but  in  a  letter  to  his  sister  he 
qu*  oc  anconsciously  illustrates  the  kind  of  religious 
life  which  has  grown  up  in  him  without  conversion : 
"  I  do  not  like,"  he  says,  "  to  read  the  Bible  as 
well  as  to  pray,  but  I  suppose  it  is  the  same  as  it 
is  with  a  lover,  who  loves  to  talk  with  his  mistress 
in  person  better  than  to  write  when  she  is  afar  off." 
A  little  later  than  this  there  was  a  revival  at  Mt. 
Pleasant,  and  a  wave  of  feeling  passed  over  him 
which  he  thought  might  be  conversion.  His  father 
was  quite  satisfied  on  the  subject,  and  partly  from 
a  kind  of  shamefacedness  which  kept  the  boy  from 
saying  he  did  not  think  he  was  a  Christian,  he  "  let 
them  take  me  into  the  Church."  Like  a  ship  built 
on  the  land  that  on  some  moment  must  be  launched 
into  the  sea  are  some  souls  ;  like  a  fish  born  in  the 
sea  and  growing  up  there  are  others.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  belonged  to  the  latter  class ;  he  never  was 
launched  and  needed  no  launching.  The  churches 
of  the  Puritans  have  grown  wiser  than  they  were 
in  his  father's  time,  for  which  wisdom  no  little 
thanks  are  due  to  Dr.  Bushnell  and  his  bitterly 
criticised  book  on  "  Christian  Nurture." 

This  is  the  boy  who  in  1830,  at  seventeen  years 
of  age,  entered  Amherst  College,  in  a  class  of  forty 
members.    Out  of  the  evangelical  passion  in  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MaN  35 

New  England  churches  during  the  early  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  of  which  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher  was  so  distinguished  a  representative,  this 
college  was  born,  in  1821.  It  was  organized  to 
promote  the  interests  of  evangelical  religion  by 
providing  for  the  education  of  indigent  young  men 
for  the  ministry.  The  story  of  its  birth  is  6ne  of 
persistent  and  indomitable  enthusiasm  overcoming 
great  obstacles.  The  friends  of  Williams  College 
feared  the  rivalry  of  a  new  institution ;  many  of 
the  friends  of  Christian  education  doubted  the 
wisdom  of  establishing  two  colleges  in  western 
Massachusetts  ;  the  Unitarian  element  in  the  state 
saw  in  this  new  movement  a  new  attack  upon  lib- 
eralism, and  prepared  to  thwart  it  at  the  outset. 
It  was  difficult  to  secure  an  agreement  among  the 
advocates  of  the  evangelical  faith,  difficult,  when 
the  agreement  was  reached,  to  raise  the  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  which  constituted  the  financial  basis 
for  beginning  the  work,  difficult,  when  the  money 
had  been  secured,  and  the  first  building  had  been 
erected,  to  obtain  a  charter  from  the  legislature. 
But  when  these  obstacles  had  been  overcome,  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  securing  students.  In  1830, 
when  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  ready  to  enter 
college,  Amherst  had  its  land,  two  dormitories,  a 
chapel  with  recitation  rooms  annexed,  the  begin- 
ning of  a  college  library,  a  faculty  consisting  of  a 
president,  six  professors,  and  one  tutor,  and  about 
two  hundred  pupils.  Everything,  however,  was 
on  a  scale  of  extreme  simplicity.    The  salaries  of 


36  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

the  professors  ranged  from  $600  to  1800  a  year, 
the  expenses  of  tuition  from  $30  to  $40,  board 
from  $1  to  $1.25  a  week.  The  students  took  care 
of  their  rooms,  made  their  own  fires,  and  generally 
sawed  their  wood.  The  entire  expenses  for  a  four 
years'  course  did  not  exceed  $800.  The  students 
assembled  for  prayers  every  morning  at  a  quarter 
before  five  in  the  summer,  and  at  a  quarter  before 
six  in  the  winter.  Their  working-day  was  divided 
into  three  nearly  equal  portions,  in  each  of  which 
two  or  three  hours  were  set  apart  for  study,  and 
each  study  period  was  followed  immediately  by  a 
recitation.  The  college  discipline  was  rigorous, 
the  college  regulations  minute  and  exact.  Obedi- 
ence was  enforced  by  a  system  of  fines.  There 
were  long  vacations  to  enable  the  students  to  add 
to  their  slender  resources  by  teaching  in  the  dis- 
trict schools. 

Such  was  the  college  which  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
entered  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his  age.  He 
carried  with  him  a  nature  of  strange  contradic- 
tions :  a  masculine  robustness  of  nature  mated  to 
a  femininity  of  spirit ;  great  spontaneity  of  charac- 
ter coupled  with  a  morbid  habit  of  self-examina- 
tion ;  an  inborn  love  for  church  and  for  his  fellow- 
men  together  with  a  hopeless  endeavor  to  create 
in  himself  that  preternatural  change  which  was 
thought  to  be  essential  to  Christian  character  ;  a 
habit  of  hard  work,  but  a  habit  of  working  ac- 
cording to  his  own  mood,  not  according  to  rules 
prescribed  for  him  by  others.    His  college  stand- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  MAN  37 

ing  is  indicated  by  his  later  remark  that  lie  once 
stood  next  to  the  head  of  his  class  ;  it  was  when 
the  class  was  arranged  in  a  circle.  He  studied 
the  lessons  allotted  him  by  the  college,  so  far  as 
was  necessary  to  enable  him  to  get  through,  but 
no  farther ;  but  he  threw  himself  with  enthusiasm 
into  courses  of  reading  and  study  to  which  his 
mood  impelled  or  his  judgment  guided  him.  In 
accordance  with  the  custom  of  the  time  he  taught 
school  during  the  long  winter  vacation  to  add  to 
his  limited  means.  The  missionary  spirit  which 
he  had  imbibed  from  his  father  already  began  to 
ferment  within  him ;  and  he  conducted  prayer- 
meetings,  gave  lectures  on  temperance,  and  later 
on  phrenology,  and  preached  in  villages  what  would 
be  called  sermons,  except  that  he  was  not  a  min- 
ister. Once  he  earned  ten  dollars  as  a  lecturer, 
and  spent  it  in  buying  an  edition  of  Burke,  the 
foundation  of  his  future  library.  He  got  no  great 
standing  at  college  for  scholarship,  and  no  appoint- 
ment at  Commencement ;  but  he  was  regarded  as 
one  of  the  fine  debaters  in  the  college  debating 
society,  and  outside  of  it  was  recognized  by  his 
classmates  as  an  intellectual  leader.  He  was 
profoundly  religious,  yet  perpetually  perplexed  by 
skepticism ;  was  alternately  inspired  by  a  great 
hope  and  whelmed  in  a  sort  of  half  despair.  At 
the  end  of  four  years  he  graduated,  leaving  behind 
him  an  academic  record  respectable  but  not  emi- 
nent, having  carried  on  throughout  the  four  years 
an  aggressive  though  fitful  and  boyish  Christian 


A. 


38  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

and  philanthropic  work,  and  carrying  with  him 
the  results  of  a  wide  though  desultory  reading  ; 
very  much  in  earnest  in  his  resolve  to  use  his  expe- 
rience and  his  voice  for  the  service  of  his  fellow 
men ;  very  much  in  uncertainty  respecting  himself 
and  the  value  of  his  own  inner  life. 


CHAPTER  III 

EARLY   MINISTRY 

In  1834  Henry  Ward  Beeclier  was  graduated  from  t 
Amherst  CoUege,  at  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Dur- 
ing these  twenty-one  years  America  had  made 
rapid  growth  in  size  and  population,  and  new  and 
complex  problems  were  arising  which  the  young 
graduate  would  in  his  later  years  help  to  solve.  In 
1813  the  little  village  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  formed 
the  northwestern  outpost  of  the  nation.  The  fron- 
tier line  ran  thence  in  a  southwesterly  direction  to 
the  Tennessee  River,  and  thence  in  a  southeasterly 
direction  to  the  southern  border  of  Georgia.  In 
1834  the  republic  had  extended  far  to  the  west  of 
this  line  ;  the  Mississippi  River  formed  its  western 
frontier,  the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Erie  and  Lake 
Michigan  its  northern  frontier.  Michigan,  Wiscon- 
sin, Minnesota,  and  Iowa  were,  however,  still  prac- 
tically uninhabited,  and  all  west  of  the  territory 
now  occupied  by  those  states  was  untrodden  wilder- 
ness. The^population  had  increased  from  less  than 
eiffht  million  to  over  twelve  million.  The  increase 
had  been  nearly  equally  divided  between  North  and 
South,  but  not  between  East  and  West ;  the  centre 
of  population  was  a  little  east  of  Washing-ton.  The 
first  steamboat  to  make  its  way  against  the  Missis- 


40  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

sippi  current  from  New  Orleans  to  Cincinnati  had 
given  in  1815  a  prophecy  of  the  future  commercial 
importance  of  the  latter  city  which  far-seeing  busi- 
ness men  were  not  slow  to  comprehend ;  it  promised 
to  be  the  metropolis  of  the  West,  for  Chicago, 
though  an  important  trading-post  on  the  frontier, 
was  but  just  incorporated  as  a  town  and  had  a 
population  of  less  than  four  thousand.  The  rail- 
road was  yet  in  its  experimental  stage.  In  a  race 
run  in  1829  between  a  locomotive  and  a  horse,  the 
horse  outdistanced  the  locomotive.  A  year  and  a 
half  later  the  first  real  railroad  was  operated  in  the 
state  of  South  Carolina,  and  in  six  months  there- 
after a  second  short  line  of  railroad  between  Albany 
and  Schenectady  was  in  operation  ;  but  as  yet  a 
railroad  to  be  operated  by  a  steam  locomotive  was 
looked  upon  by  most  practical  business  men  as 
wholly  impracticable.  The  "  big  ditch,"  as  the  Erie 
Canal  was  contemptuously  called,  had  been  dug 
between  Albany  and  Buffalo,  making  a  completed 
waterway  between  the  Northwest  and  the  ocean  — 
the  foundation  of  the  future  commercial  greatness 
of  New  York  City.  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia, 
which  had  to  depend  upon  teaming  over  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  awoke  to  the  necessity  of  finding  some 
contrivance  to  compete  with  the  canal,  and  this  ne- 
cessity gave  to  the  railroad  enterprise  its  first  con- 
siderable impulse.  As  yet,  however,  though  many 
roads  were  planned,  few  were  constructed,  and  as 
late  as  1830  there  were  but  thirty-six  miles  of  com- 
pleted roadbed  in  the  country.    When  the  young 


EARLY  MINISTRY  41 

graduate  went  from  Amherst  College  to  Cincinnati, 
whither  his  father  had  now  removed,  he  must  have 
gone  either  by  stage  to  Albany,  by  canal  to  Buffalo, 
by  steamboat  on  Lake  Erie,  perhaps  to  Cleveland, 
and  then  again  by  stage  across  Ohio  to  the  Ohio 
River,  or  by  stage  over  the  Alleghanies  to  Pittsburg 
and  thence  by  boat  on  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati. 

While  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  at  Amherst 
College  his  father  had  removed  from  Boston  to  Cin- 
cinnati, to  take  the  presidency  of  Lane  Theological 
Seminary.  The  young  metropolis  of  the  West  was 
described  by  one  of  the  promoters  of  this  enter- 
prise as  at  the  heart  of  four  millions  of  people,  and 
in  twenty  years  to  be  at  the  heart  of  twelve  mil- 
lions —  "  the  most  important  point  in  our  nation 
for  a  great  central  theological  institution  of  the  first 
character."  For  Christian  men  were  as  far-seeing 
as  commercial  men,  and  as  eager  to  take  advantage 
of  the  opportunities  which  the  growing  West  af- 
forded. They  procured  a  charter  in  1829,  secured 
a  donation  of  sixty  acres  of  land,  and  started  the 
new  seminary  with  one  professor  and  three  or  four 
students.  What  the  students  did  for  instruction, 
when  after  a  few  months  the  professor  was  sent 
East  to  obtain  funds,  history  does  not  tell.  The 
professor  failed  in  his  endeavor  and  resigned.  The 
enterprise  would  apparently  have  been  abandoned 
but  for  the  indomitable  enterprise  oi^-one  man,  the 
Rev.  F.  Y.  Vail,  who  wisely  judged  that  to  get  East- 
ern funds  Eastern  confidence  must  first  be  secured, 
and  for  this  purpose  an  Eastern  man  obtained  to 


42  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

act  as  president  of  the  yet  unborn  institution.  He 
came  to  Boston  and  applied  to  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher, 
"  There  was  not  on  earth  a  place  but  that,"  said 
Dr.  Beecher  afterwards,  "  I  would  have  opened  my 
ears  to  for  a  moment,  but  I  had  felt,  and  thought, 
and  labored  a  great  deal  about  raising  up  ministers, 
and  the  idea  that  I  might  be  called  to  teach  the 
best  mode  of  preaching  to  young  ministry  of  the 
broad  West  flashed  through  my  mind  like  light- 
ning. I  went  home  and  ran  in,  and  found  Esther 
alone  in  the  sitting-room.  I  was  in  such  a  state  of 
emotion  and  excitement  I  could  not  speak,  and  she 
was  frightened.  At  last  I  told  her.  It  was  the 
greatest  thought  that  ever  entered  my  soul ;  it  filled 
it,  and  displaced  everything  else."  He  accepted  the 
call.  His  acceptance  secured  a  gift  of  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  from  Arthur  Tappan,  of  New  York, 
whose  interest  in  all  forward  movements  was  shown 
throughout  his  life,  both  by  his  generous  benefac- 
tions and  his  active  services.  It  was  a  matter  of 
course  that  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  now  fully  re- 
solved upon  the  ministry  as  his  life  work,  should 
go,  on  graduation,  to  Lane  Theological  Seminary, 
to  complete  his  preparations  under  the  instructions 
of  the  father  whose  theological  debates  in  the  fam- 
ily, during  the  son's  boyhood,  had  already  famihar- 
ized  him  with  theology,  both  abstract  and  applied. 
Cincinnati  was  at  this  time  a  city  of  about  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  seminary  was  outside, 
in  the  woods,  where  the  whistle  of  the  quail,  the 
flight  of  the  turkey,  the  rush  of  wild  pigeons,  were 


EARLY  MINISTRY  43 

to  be  heard.  The  father  did  not  believe  in  dissociat- 
ing theology  and  religion.  He  lectured  during  the 
week,  and  preached  in  the  city  on  Sunday  ;  carried, 
alternately,  his  theology  into  his  sermons,  and  his 
religion  into  his  lectures.  The  young  student  did 
not,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  get  a  great  deal  out  of 
the  regular  theological  course.  He  began  writing 
a  journal  "  of  events,  feelings,  thoughts,  plans,  etc, 
just  as  they  have  met  me  ;  thus  giving  in  part  a 
transcript  of  my  inner  and  outer  life."  His  biogra- 
phers say  that  they  "  find  very  little,  almost  nothing, 
concerning  the  regulation,  work,  and  studies  of  the 
theological  course,  possibly  because  some  other 
book,  which  has  not  come  down  to  us,  contains 
these."  I  think  it  far  more  probable  that  it  was 
because  the  work  and  studies  of  the  theological 
course,  as  prescribed  by  the  authorities,  did  not 
greatly  interest  him.  This  was  not  because  he  was 
idle,  but  because  his  temper  was  such  that  he  was 
never  able  —  perhaps  I  should  rather  say  never 
inclined  —  to  work  along  lines  marked  out  for 
him  by  others.  He  was  an  omnivorous  reader,  and 
always  read  to  some  purpose  and  for  some  result. 
Thus,  when  he  had  finished  Scott's  "  Antiquary," 
he  wrote  a  comparison  of  "  The  Antiquary  "  and 
"  Ivanhoe  ;  "  and  a  little  later,  a  critical  comparison 
between  Scott  and  Shakespeare.  Whether  his  com- 
parison is  adequate  or  even  sound  is  not  a  matter 
of  consequence ;  that  he  wrote  it  illustrates  the 
fact  that  his  reading  was  thoughtful  and  discrim- 
inating.   His  studies,  however,  constituted  by  no 


44  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

means  the  whole,  perhaps  not  even  the  major  part, 
of  his  life.  He  sang  in  the  church  choir,  and  some- 
times led  it ;  he  conducted  a  Bible-class,  which 
was  practically  a  lecture  on  the  Bible,  and  gave, 
contemporaneously,  a  course  of  temperance  lectures 
through  the  week ;  and  he  preached  on  Sundays, 
as  opportunity  offered,  throughout  the  theological 
course.  He  began  also  to  accumulate  a  library, 
which  numbered  early  in  the  second  year  of  his 
theological  course  a  hundred  and  thirty-five  vol- 
umes, intelligently  selected  and  carefully  read, 
only  about  one  third  of  them  professional  books. 
The  anti-slavery  controversy  was  beginning  to 
assume  serious  proportions.  He  was  much  more 
interested  in  it  than  in  the  theological  controversies 
in  which  his  father  was  engaged;  at  one  time 
added  amateur  editorship  to  preaching,  lecturing, 
teaching,  and  choir  leading ;  at  another  volunteered 
as  a  special  constable,  and  for  several  nights 
patrolled  the  streets  of  Cincinnati  to  protect  the 
negroes  and  their  friends  from  a  mob.  On  the 
whole  the  picture  of  these  seminary  days,  which 
we  gather  from  his  journal  and  letters,  so  far  as 
pubhshed,  are  those  rather  of  a  zealous  man  of 
affairs  than  of  a  patient  and  painstaking  student. 
It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  in  1834  no 
such  sharp  line  between  the  period  of  preparation 
and  that  of  action  was  drawn  as  is  drawn  in  our 
day.  Engineering  schools  were  practically  un- 
known ;  the  engineer  rose  from  the  ranks.  Law 
schools   were   few  and   poorly   patronized.    John 


EARLY  MINISTRY  45 

Marshall,  perhaps  the  greatest  jurist  America  has 
ever  seen,  went  directly  from  a  country  academy 
into  a  law  office,  from  a  law  office  into  politics,  and 
from  politics  to  the  bench ;  a  single  course  of  law 
lectures  at  William  and  Mary  CoUege  was  aU  the 
academic  legal  instruction  he  ever  received.  Only 
a  minority  of  the  ministers  of  that  day  took  any 
theological  seminary  course,  many  of  them  no  col- 
lege course  ;  piety,  that  kind  of  familiarity  with 
the  Bible  which  all  children  obtained  through  home 
training,  and  a  very  moderate  acquaintance  with 
the  well-established  theology  of  the  time  being  con- 
sidered an  adequate  equipment  for  preaching  the 
Gospel.  It  was  quite  in  accordance,  therefore,  with 
the  spirit  of  the  time  that  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
should  divide  his  energy  between  academic  studies 
and  practical  work,  giving,  I  suspect,  if  not  the 
larger  portion  of  his  time,  certainly  the  larger 
portion  of  his  energy  and  enthusiasm,  to  the  work. 
Whether  the  modern  method  of  keeping  the  student 
apart  from  life  in  academic  pursuits  for  ten  or 
fifteen  years,  and  then  plunging  him  at  once  into 
active  life,  under  such  pressure  as  makes  the  con- 
tinuance of  systematic  study  almost  impossible, 
furnishes  a  better  preparation  for  life  than  the 
method  of  our  fathers,  in  which  practice  and  theory 
were  more  intermingled,  both  in  the  period  of 
study  and  in  the  period  of  work,  may  be  open  to 
question  ;  I  am  inclined  to  think  a  partial  reversion 
to  the  older  method  would  be  an  improvement  on 
the  method  now  pursued. 


46  HENHY  WARD  BEECHER 

Throughout  the  seminary  course  there  were 
periods  in  which  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  subject 
to  serious  skepticism  and  to  serious  spiritual  de- 
pression. At  times  he  thought  of  abandoning  the 
ministry  altogether,  on  account  of  his  theological 
doubts,  —  for  they  were  theological  rather  than 
religious ;  at  other  times  he  resolved  to  preach 
whether  Presbytery  approved  or  not.  He  would  at 
aU  events  maintain  his  independence.  "  I  must," 
he  said,  "  preach  the  Gospel  as  it  is  revealed  to  me, 
not  as  it  is  laid  down  in  the  schools."  It  was  at 
some  time  in  this  seminary  course  that  he  had  that 
experience  of  Christ,  as  a  supreme  manifestation 
of  God,  which  I  have  recorded  in  the  opening  of 
the  first  chapter  of  this  volume.  From  the  time  of 
that  revelation  he  seems  never  to  have  had  a  doubt 
respecting  his  mission,  or  a  hesitancy  about  endea- 
voring to  fulfill  it,  only  hesitation  about  the  path  to 
be  taken  toward  its  fulfillment. 

About  twenty  miles  south  of  Cincinnati  was  the 
little  village  of  Lawrenceburg,  Indiana,  on  the  Ohio 
River.  It  had  at  one  time  hoped  to  be  the  metro- 
polis of  the  West ;  it  is  hardly  larger  to-day  than 
when  Henry  Ward  Beecher  settled  there,  while 
Cincinnati  has  become  one  of  America's  great 
cities.  Here  was  a  feeble  Presbyterian  church, 
consisting  of  twenty  persons.  In  one  of  his  ser- 
mons Mr.  Beecher  thus  graphically  describes  his 
early  experiences  there :  — 

I  remember  that  the  flock  which  I  found  gathered  in 
the  wilderness  consisted  of   twenty  persons.    Nineteen 


EARLY  MINISTRY  47 

of  them  were  women,  and  the  other  was  nothing.  I 
remember  the  days  of  our  poverty,  our  straitness.  I 
was  sexton  of  my  own  church  at  that  time.  There  were 
no  lamps  there,  so  I  bought  some  ;  and  I  filled  them 
and  lit  them.  I  swept  the  church,  and  lighted  my  own 
fire.  I  did  not  ring  the  bell,  because  there  was  none  to 
ring.  I  opened  the  church  before  prayer-meetings  and 
preaching,  and  locked  it  when  they  were  over.  I  took 
care  of  everything  connected  with  the  building. 


His  journal  contains  some  definite  resolves,  on 
some  of  which  I  think  he  instinctively  acted  all  his 
life  long  :  "  Remember  you  can  gain  men  easily  if  ^ 
you  get  round  their  prejudices  and  put  truth  in  ^ 
their  minds ;  but  7iever  if  you  attack  prejudices." 
"  My  people  must  be  alert  to  make  the  church 
agreeable,  to  give  seats,  and  wait  on  Strang ersy 
"  Secure  a  large  congregation ;  let  this  be  the 
first  thing."  His  resolution  to  "  visit  widely  "  I 
do  not  think  he  ever  fulfilled.  What  the  Method- 
ist contemporary  in  Lawrenceburg  said  respecting 
Mr.  Beecher  there,  Mr.  Beecher's  subsequent  life 
confirms  :  "  Mr.  Beecher  could  outpreach  me,  but 
I  could  outvisit  him."  The  church  voted  him  a 
salary  of  two  hundi-ed  and  fifty  dollars,  which 
seems  to  have  dwindled  in  the  payment  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  ;  the  Home  Missionary  Society  added 
one  hundred  and  fifty  more.  Three  hundred  dol- 
lars was  a  small  salary,  even  in  those  days,  on 
which  to  marry  and  begin  housekeeping,  but  Mr. 
Beecher's  courage  always  overtopped  his  caution. 
With  characteristic  impetuosity,  as  soon  as  he  had 


48  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

been  formally  called  and  before  he  bad  been  for- 
mally ordained,  be  wrote  to  Miss  Eunice  BuUard, 
to  whom  be  was  engaged,  suggesting  that  their 
marriage  be  celebrated  shortly  after  his  ordination, 
and  then  followed  and  almost  overtook  his  letter 
with  a  proposal  to  have  the  wedding  first  and  the 
ordination  afterwards.  This  sort  of  impetuosity 
generally  succeeds  in  such  cases,  and  it  did  in  this 
case.  They  were  married  August  3,  1837,  left 
New  York  a  little  later,  and,  traveling  day  and 
night,  reached  Cincinnati  the  last  of  August. 
Four  children  of  this  marriage  survived  Mr. 
Beecher :  Henry  Barton ;  William  C. ;  Herbert 
F. ;  and  Harriet  E.  ;  the  latter  married  the  Eev. 
Samuel  Scoville,  a  Congregational  clergjmian.  The 
family  life  of  Mr.  Beecher  has  been  written  by 
the  son,  William  C,  and  the  son-in-law,  Samuel 
Scoville,  assisted  by  the  widow,  Mrs.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.  To  that  volume  the  reader  of  this  is  re- 
ferred for  all  the  domestic  side  of  Mr.  Beecher 's 
life.  It  would  not  be  seemly  either  to  repeat  h6re 
what  they  have  written,  or  to  supplement  it  by 
anything  additional. 

The  ordination  of  Mr.  Beecher  was  not  so  simple 
an  aif  air  as  he  had  perhaps  anticipated  it  would  be. 
The  battle  between  the  Old  School  and  the  New 
School  party  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  already 
in  progress.  Lyman  Beecher  represented  the  New 
School  or  progressive  element.  The  Miami  Pres- 
bytery was  largely  composed  of  Scotch-Irish  Pres- 
byterians, whose  views  were  what  they  would  call 


EARLY  MINISTRY  49 

consistently,  what  their  opponents  would  call  ex- 
tremely, Calvinistic.  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was 
familiar  with  theological  distinctions,  little  as  he 
cared  for  them.  He  had  been  trained  in  them 
from  his  boyhood.  He  was  always  quick-witted, 
and  never  quicker  than  when  under  mental  excite- 
ment. His  resolve  to  get  round  prejudices,  not  to 
attack  them,  was  put  to  the  test,  and  his  skill  in 
fulfilling  that  resolve  was  demonstrated.  In  sjiite 
of  a  prolonged  and  hostile  examination,  he  stood 
his  ground,  and,  if  orthodoxy  alone  had  been  in 
question,  woidd  have  been  ordained  in  spite  of 
opposition,  but  when  a  resolution  was  mtroduced 
requiring  the  candidate  to  pledge  his  adhesion  to 
the  Old  School  Presbyterian  General  Assembly, 
and  so  part  company  with  his  father,  who  was  a 
leader  in  the  New  School  party,  he  peremptorily 
refused,  at  the  hazard  of  relinquishing  his  church 
and  the  little  salary  which  was  pledged  to  him, 
and  beginning  his  married  life  with  nothing.  But 
his  little  church  cared  more  for  its  minister  than 
for  the  theological  controversy,  and  promptly  de-j 
clared  itself  independent  of  the  Presbytery.  ' 

The  two  years  of  his  ministry  in  Lawrenceburg 
were  years  of  poverty,  but  of  joyfid  self-denial. 
The  bride  and  groom  lived  in  tsvo  rooms  over  a 
stable  at  a  rental  of  forty  dollars  per  annmn. 
They  furnished  the  rooms  with  second-hand  furni- 
ture —  a  little  of  it  bought,  more  of  it  given.  The 
preacher  welcomed  gifts  of  cast-off  clothing,  and 
thought  himself  "  simiptuously  clothed."    His  lit- 


50  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

tie  church  was  crowded,  but  his  people  were  better 
satisfied  with  his  preaching  than  he  was  himself. 
He  has  not  recorded  any  notable  spiritual  results 
from  it.  The  sermon  was  yet  to  him  an  end,  not 
a  means  to  an  end.  He  knew  how  to  make  a  ser- 
mon that  woidd  interest,  but  not  how  so  to  use  a 
sermon  as  to  affect  character.  After  two  years  of 
ministry  in  this  discouraging  field,  where  he  worked 
hard  for  little  pay  and  with  no  considerable  results, 
he  accepted  a  call,  thrice  repeated,  and  removed  to 
Indianapolis. 

The  growth  of  this  country  has  been  so  rapid, 
and  the  changes  in  its  conditions  so  kaleidoscopic, 
that  it  is  impossible  for  us  now  to  realize  the  mate- 
rial, social,  and  moral  conditions  which  existed  less 
than  three  quarters  of  a  century  ago.  In  1839, 
when  Mr.  Beecher  moved  to  Indianapolis,  it  was 
an  unkempt  village,  growing  up  in  the  midst  of  a 
wilderness.  A  few  houses,  clustered  together,  con- 
stituted the  centre  of  the  future  town.  From  this 
centre  houses  of  wood  straggled  off  in  every  direc- 
tion. Many  of  the  unoccupied  squares  were  fenced 
in,  so  as  to  constitute  paddocks,  in  each  one  of  which 
one  or  more  milch  cows  were  kept  during  the  day. 
The  passages  between  the  squares,  into  which,  ac- 
cording to  Western  fashion,  the  town  was  laid  out, 
were  overgrown  with  dog-fennel,  save  where  wagon 
tracks  had  made  a  sinuous  road,  avoiding  a  stump 
on  the  one  side  and  a  mud  hole  on  the  other.  When 
these  roadways  became  impassable  some  enterpris- 
ing traveler  opened  a  new  one  through  the  dog- 


EARLY  MINISTRY  51 

fennel.  In  winter  these  ways  were  often  impassable 
by  reason  of  mud,  in  summer  insufferable  by  rea- 
son of  dust.  There  was  no  sewerage ;  the  town  was 
flat ;  and  the  water  stood  in  pools,  or  found  its  way 
slowly  through  o^ien  ditches,  often  choked  up  with 
weeds  or  refuse.  Save  in  the  very  centre  of  the 
town,  there  were  no  sidewalks  ;  such  as  existed 
were  mere  strips  of  gravel,  with  depths  of  mud  on 
either  side.  Pioneers  coming  hither  from  the  East 
to  make  their  fortune  had  foreseen  a  great  future 
for  this  embryo  capital.  They  had  already  planned 
six  railroads  to  centre  in  this  town,  for  the  travel 
which  did  not  yet  exist,  and  the  legislature,  more 
audacious  than  private  capital,  had  undertaken  to 
begin  their  construction.  A  state  bank  had  been 
organized,  a  state-house  built,  a  fire-engine  com- 
pany formed,  and  a  great  scheme  of  public  works 
for  the  improvement  of  the  anticipated  city  had 
been  devised  and  entered  upon.  The  residt  of  this 
enterprise  had  shown  that,  in  material  as  in  spirit- 
ual things,  faith  without  works  is  dead.  The  vigor- 
ously engineered  boom  had  collapsed,  and  in  1839 
and  for  several  years  thereafter  the  village  was  suf- 
fering from  the  consequences  of  too  much  misdi- 
rected energy. 

As  a  result  of  the  division  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  into  Old  School  and  New  School,  fifteen 
members  of  the  First  Presb3i:erian  Church  had 
withdrawn  to  found  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  rivalry  between  the  two  churches 
was  intensified,  rather  than  lessened,  by  the  fact 


52  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

that  both  possessed  the  same  traditions  and  the 
same  creed.  The  new  church  was  worshiping  in  a 
hall,  but  had  already  projected  the  construction  of 
a  meeting-house.  Mr.  Beecher's  promised  salary  in 
Indianapolis  was  twice  his  nominal  salary  in  Law- 
renceburg.  But  six  hundred  dollars  a  year  was  not 
munificent  even  then ;  it  may  be  reasonably  esti- 
mated as  about  equivalent  to  twelve  hundred  dol- 
lars in  our  own  time.  The  first  of  the  Indiana 
railroads  had  been  built  from  Madison  as  far  as 
Vernon,  twenty  miles  on  its  way  to  the  capital,  and 
it  is  said  that  Mr.  Beecher  and  his  wife  took  the 
first  train  over  this  uncompleted  railroad,  riding 
this  twenty  miles  in  a  box-car  ;  the  rest  of  the  jour- 
ney, it  is  to  be  presumed,  they  took  over  the  miry 
roads,  through  the  untraveled  wilderness,  in  a 
springless  wagon. 

From  the  scanty  materials  furnished  by  such 
books  as  W.  R.  Hallaway's  "  History  of  Indiana- 
polis," and  J.  P.  Dunn's  "  History  of  Indiana,"  and 
the  letters  of  Mr.  Beecher  himself,  it  is  possible  to 
form  some  conception,  though  vague  and  inade- 
quate, of  the  kind  of  population  in  which  the  next 
eight  years  of  Mr.  Beecher's  life  were  to  be  spent. 
The  earlier  settlers  of  Indiana  were  French  Catho- 
lics, coming  up  from  Louisiana  and  down  from 
Canada.  They  possessed  both  the  virtues  and  the 
vices  characteristic  of  the  French  pioneer.  They 
were  kindly,  humane,  easy-going.  They  brought 
slavery  with  them,  but  it  was  a  form  of  slavery 
quite  different  from  that  which  later  prevailed  in 


EARLY  MINISTRY  53 

the  Anglo-Saxon  portions  of  the  continent.  Their 
laws  provided  for  the  education  of  the  slaves  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith,  and  for  the  protection  of 
marriage  relations,  and  forbade  excessive  and  cruel 
punishments  ;  in  brief,  it  was,  to  quote  Mr.  Dunn, 
"  as  endurable  as  any  slavery  could  be."  The  ordi- 
nance of  1787,  under  which  the  whole  Northwest 
Territory  was  organized,  forbade  slavery ;  but  it 
was  strenuously  contended,  with  considerable  sup- 
port from  judicial  decisions,  that  this  ordinance  did 
not  forbid  the  continuance  of  slave  relations  which 
existed  before  the  ordinance  was  passed  ;  and  in 
fact,  up  to  the  admission  of  Indiana  to  the  Union 
as  a  state,  December  11,  1816,  slavery  in  a  mild 
form  still  continued  throughout  the  territory.  In 
the  judgment  of  these  French  settlers  there  was 
nothing  inmioral  in  drinking,  or  even  in  drunken- 
ness, and  it  must  be  said,  in  explanation  if  not 
in  defense  of  their  position,  that  drunkenness  with 
them  rarely  led  to  the  brawls  and  the  violence 
which  it  so  often  inspires  in  the  Celtic  and  Anglo- 
Saxon  races.  Gambling  was  also  looked  upon  as  an 
entirely  innocent  recreation,  though  again  it  must 
be  said,  in  explanation  if  not  in  defense,  that  the 
gambling  was  generally  for  sums  which  the  gam- 
blers could  afford  to  lose,  was  conducted  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  game,  and  was  inspired,  not  by 
greed  and  covetousness,  but  by  the  pleasurable  ex- 
citements incident  to  such  games  of  chance. 

But  into  this  population  had  come  a  new  ele- 
ment, bringing  with  it  a  much  more  strenuous  life. 


54  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Pioneers  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  mostly  from 
the  middle  states,  had  come  hither,  seeking  their  for- 
tune. They  brought  an  intensity  of  nature  whoUy 
foreign  to  the  French  character.  They  were  more 
thrifty  but  more  greedy  of  gain ;  more  enterpris- 
ing but  harder  and  less  good-natured.  When  they 
gambled,  it  was  to  make  money ;  when  they  drank, 
they  quarreled  ;  and  drinking  and  gambling  being 
both  against  their  conscience,  demoralized  their 
character  and  became  gross  and  flagrant  vices. 
When  enterprise  gambles,  it  becomes  professional 
gambling,  and  professional  gambling  is  rarely  if  ever 
honest.  The  fact  that  Indianapolis  was  the  capital 
of  the  state  brought  to  it  a  class  of  politicians 
whose  character  was  not  always  above  reproach  and 
intensified  the  tendency  toward  the  twin  vices  of 
drunkenness  and  gambling.  Street  brawls  were  fre- 
quent, and  were  sometimes  of  a  ferocious  character. 
"  Fighting,"  says  Mr.  Hallaway,  "  in  the  early  days 
of  the  capital  was  quite  a  feature  in  its  social  or 
unsocial  life.  No  Saturday  passed  without  one, 
or  commonly  half  a  dozen  brawls."  One  incident 
which  Mr.  Hallaway  narrates  serves  to  illustrate, 
better  than  any  general  description  could  do,  the 
rude  character  of  the  people  and  the  period.  A 
certain  bully  of  the  town,  often  drunken  and  vio- 
lent, and  when  so  an  unendurable  terror  to  his 
neighbors,  made  his  appearance  at  a  Methodist 
camp-meeting.  His  drunken  threats  terrified  the 
congregation,  and  threatened  to  break  up  the  ser- 
vices.   The    Methodist    preacher    once   or    twice 


EARLY  MINISTRY  55 

requested  him  to  go  away  in  peace ;  finding  this 
unavailing,  he  came  down  from  his  pulpit,  gave  the 
fellow  the  first  thrashing  he  had  ever  had  in  his 
life,  and  then  went  back  and  finished  his  sermon. 
The  thrashing  seems  to  have  been  effectual  —  per- 
haps did  more  good  than  the  sermon  ;  at  all  events, 
as  the  story  goes,  with  a  dramatic  fitness  quite 
worthy  of  Shakespeare,  the  bully,  humiliated  at 
being  thrashed  by  a  preacher,  and  unable  to  with- 
stand the  jeers  of  his  comrades,  reformed,  and  lived 
the  rest  of  his  life,  and  died  at  last,  a  temperate 
and  self-respecting  citizen. 

It  will  be  a  mistake,  however,  if  the  reader  should 
get  the  impression  that  Indianapolis  was  wholly 
given  over  to  these  influences.  If  some  of  the  im- 
migrants from  the  East  had  left  their  religion  and 
their  conscience  behind  them,  there  were  others 
who  brought  into  the  religious  life  of  the  nascent 
metropolis  the  same  energy  and  enterprise  which 
they  brought  into  its  commercial  activities.  There 
were  some  vigorous  and  efficient  churches,  and 
some  strong  and  effective  preachers,  in  the  place. 
Four  years  before  Mr.  Beecher's  arrival  there  had 
been  organized,  by  the  moral  leaders  in  the  com- 
munity, an  agricultural  society,  a  benevolent  soci- 
ety, and  a  literary  society  ;  aU  of  course  undenomi- 
national, yet  all  working  in  harmony  with  the 
Christian  churches  of  the  place,  and  indirectly 
supported  by  them.  Within  four  years  after  his 
arrival,  there  was  organized  a  state  hospital  for 
the  insane,  of  which  Mr.  Beecher  was  made  one  of 


56  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

the  trustees,  and  a  female  collegiate  institute  for 
the  higher  education  of  girls,  and  musical  taste  had 
been  sufficiently  developed  to  call  for  the  opening 
of  a  piano  factory.  One  of  the  noblest  Christian 
men  I  have  ever  known  must  have  been  already 
exerting  a  considerable  influence  in  Indianapolis. 
Sympathetic  but  never  sentimental ;  never  conceal- 
ing his  faith,  and  never  obtruding  it;  refusing 
upon  principle  to  accumulate  wealth,  though  he 
had  good  opportunity  to  do  so ;  using  alike  his 
money  and  his  time  in  the  service  of  his  Master 
and  his  fellow  men  — ''  Uncle  Billy  Jackson,"  as  he 
was  affectionately  called  through  all  that  commun- 
ity, bore  a  witness  to  the  sweetness  and  the  strength 
of  a  true  Christian  character,  such  as  transcends 
all  eloquence  of  the  voice.  He  illustrated  a  certain 
type  of  Christian  character,  careless  of  creeds, 
"  zealous  of  good  works,"  possessing  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  but  not  very  regardful  of  its  forms, 
with  the  enterprise,  the  energy,  and  the  unconven- 
tionalism  of  the  West  directed  in  spiritual  chan- 
nels and  to  spiritual  ends,  such  as  is  rarely  seen 
except  in  new  conmiunities  during  their  formative 
period.  Men  and  women  of  this  type,  with  others 
less  original  but  not  less  devout,  gathered  about 
Mr.  Beecher,  and  supported  him  in  his  work.  Of 
them  he  subsequently  said :  — 

My  memory  of  these  persons  will  never  grow  dim. 
My  heart  goes  out  to  them ;  and  I  guess  they  think  of 
me.  I  think  they  requite  all  the  love  I  bestow  upon 
them.    When   dying,  many  and  many  of  them  have  sent 


EARLY  MINISTRY  57 

me  messages.  Many  and  many  of  them,  as  they  parted 
from  this  shore,  bore  testimony  that  the  sweetest  hours 
of  their  life  were  those  passed  under  my  instructions, 
and  sent  back  messages  of  encouragement  to  me.  How 
many  times  I  think  of  five  or  six  rare,  beautiful,  sainted 
ones,  who  sent  me  messages  from  the  other  side  —  I 
think  they  were  halfway  across  at  any  rate  —  that  my 
preaching  of  Christ  was  true  ;  that  they  had  gone  so  far 
that  they  felt  it  to  be  true !  I  felt  as  though  they  were 
messages  from  heaven  itself.  And  shall  I  have  under 
my  own  roof  spirits  that  are  more  sacred  to  me  than 
these  ? 

From  the  beginning  the  new  preacher  was  what 
men  call  a  success.  Notwithstanding  malarial 
attacks,  to  which,  in  common  with  aU  his  neighbors, 
he  was  sometimes  subject,  he  was  generally  over- 
flowing with  health  and  energy.  His  vivid  im- 
agination, redundant  rhetoric,  and  dramatic  per- 
sonification of  every  character  he  wished  to  portray, 
his  musical  voice,  capable  of  every  intonation,  from 
thunder  of  indignation  to  gentlest  and  softest  note 
of  invitation,  and,  behind  all,  liis  absolute  freedom 
from  cant  and  every  suspicion  of  professionalism, 
gave  him  unexampled  power  in  the  pulpit.  His 
animal  spirits,  hopeful  temper,  humaneness  of  dis- 
position, which  made  him  unfeignedly  interested 
in  everything  that  interested  any  of  his  fellows, 
attracted  to  him  socially  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men.  His  lack  of  conventionality,  illustrated 
by  the  fact  that  he  was  the  first  minister  to  be  seen 
with  a  felt  hat,  and  that  he  did  not  hesitate  to  take 
an  active  part  in  painting  his  house,  or  carrying 


58  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

home  a  load  of  groceries  in  a  wheelbarrow,  would 
have  subjected  him  to  criticism  in  an  older  com- 
munity, but  in  this  heterogeneous  population  it  won 
for  him  additional  commendation.  The  hall  which 
constituted  the  temporary  meeting-place  of  his 
church  was  crowded  from  the  first,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  first  year  the  church  had  constructed  and 
moved  into  a  permanent  and  more  commodious 
edifice,  which  in  turn  was  thronged.  From  the  first 
his  church  was  a  church  of  strangers.  The  members 
of  the  legislature  attended  it  almost  in  a  body. 
The  rule  that  he  had  laid  down  for  himself  in  Law- 
renceburg  —  "  My  people  must  be  alert  to  make 
the  church  agreeable,  to  give  seats,  and  wait  on 
strangers"  —  was  carried  out  in  Indianapohs,  as 
it  was  subsequently  in  Brooklyn.  He  was  always 
more  interested  in  preaching  to  sinners  than  to 
saints,  to  skeptics  than  to  believers,  to  the  world 
than  to  the  church.  In  this  respect  he  was  essen- 
tially an  evangelist,  and  would  not  have  remained 
long  in  any  church  whose  doors  were  not  hospit- 
ably open  to  all  the  people.  That  he  had  crowded 
and  attentive  congregations  never  satisfied  him. 
Years  afterwards,  in  Brooklyn,  when,  as  the  result 
of  some  sermon,  an  unexpected  conversion  followed, 
and  some  one  in  prayer-meeting  spoke  of  the  arrow 
shot  at  a  venture  accomplishing  its  mission,  Mr. 
Beecher  replied :  "I  never  shoot  an  arrow  at  a 
venture ;  I  always  aim  at  a  mark,  though  I  may 
not  hit  the  mark  I  aim  at."  It  was  in  Indiana- 
polis, if  we  may  trust  Mr.  Beecher's  recollection, 


EARLY  MINISTRY  69 

that  he  first  began  to  recognize  this  fundamental 
principle  underlying  all  successful  preaching.  It 
is  this  which  distinguishes  the  sermon  from  an  - 
essay  or  a  literary  address.  If  it  be  a  true  ser-; 
mon,  it  has  a  definite  object  in  the  preacher's  mind., 
It  is  not  an  end,  but  a  means  to  an  end.  Th§' 
subject  is  to  be  chosen,  the  text  selected,  the  line 
of  argument  or  exposition  pursued,  the  illustra- 
tions employed,  the  rhetoric  adapted  —  all  to  this 
one  definite  end  which,  from  first  to  last,  the 
preacher  has  in  view.  In  expounding  this  truth 
Mr.  Beecher  disavows  any  claim  for  originality. 
"  Others  had  learned  this,"  he  says.  "  It  was  the 
secret  of  success  in  every  man  who  ever  was  emi- 
nent for  usefulness  in  preaching.  But  no  man  can 
inherit  experience ;  it  must  be  born  in  each  man 
for  himself."  It  was  in  Indianapolis  that  this 
experience  was  born  in  him ;  and  without  this 
experience  he  never  would  have  been  the  great 
preacher  he  became.  He  labored  continuously  and 
zealously  for  revivals.  At  one  time  he  preached 
seventy  nights  in  succession ;  at  another  he  rode 
two  days  through  the  forests,  to  Terre  Haute,  to 
join  with  Dr.  Jewett,  the  Congregational  preacher 
there,  in  revival  services.  The  memory  of  those 
services,  of  that  preaching,  and  of  the  house-to- 
house  and  store-to-store  visiting  which  the  two 
preachers  conducted  in  connection  with  the  ser- 
vices, remained  a  significant  and  sacred  memory 
when  I  went  to  become  the  successor  of  Dr.  Jewett 
in  Terre  Haute  in  1865. 


60  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Mr.  Beecher's  active  labors  did  not  prevent  in- 
dustrious study.  He  continued  his  accumulation 
of  a  library.  He  went  over  the  four  Gospels, 
compiling  them  and  classifying  their  incidents  and 
teachings  according  to  a  method  of  his  own,  and 
in  the  process  familiarizing  himself  with  their  most 
vital  truths.  He  added  editorial  to  pastoral  labors. 
There  were  nothing  but  political  papers  in  the 
state  at  the  time.  At  the  request  of  the  "Indiana 
Journal "  Mr.  Beecher  undertook  to  edit  a  depart- 
ment in  it,  to  be  printed  monthly,  under  the  title 
"  Western  Farmer  and  Gardener."  Any  one  who 
is  familiar  with  Loudon's  cyclopedias  of  horti- 
culture and  agriculture,  will,  I  think,  agree  with 
me  that,  however  valuable  as  authorities,  they  do 
not  appeal  to  the  imagination.  Mr.  Beecher  sup- 
plied the  imagination.  He  read  and  re-read  in 
these  cyclopedias,  which  he  found  in  the  state 
library,  and  invested  them  with  pictorial  charac- 
ter by  his  own  creative  mind.  "  In  our  little  one- 
story  cottage,"  he  says,  "  after  the  day's  work  was 
done,  we  pored  over  these  monuments  of  an  almost 
incredible  industry,  and  read,  we  suppose,  not  only 
every  line,  but  much  of  it  many  times  over ;  until 
at  length  we  had  a  topographical  knowledge  of 
many  of  the  fine  English  estates  quite  as  intimate, 
we  dare  say,  as  was  possessed  by  many  of  their 
truant  owners."  Only  a  man  who  possessed  the 
power  of  creating  a  picture,  provided  he  was  given 
pigments  and  a  canvas,  could  have  obtained  such 
a  knowledge  by    such  a  process.    How  vivid  this 


EARLY  MINISTRY  61 

creative  work  was  is  illustrated  by  a  curious  inci- 
dent which  I  had  from  his  own  lips.  He  wrote  a 
description  of  some  remarkable  flower,  the  name 
of  which  I  have  now  forgotten,  which  was  copied 
far  and  wide  as  a  rare  portrait  of  a  rare  plant. 
Some  years  afterward  the  gardener  in  an  Eastern 
hothouse  showed  him  a  specimen  of  the  flower 
which  he  had  so  graphically  described.  Mr. 
Beecher  asked  its  name,  whereat  the  astonished 
and  indignant  gardener,  thinking  his  gyiest  was 
chaffing,  told  Mr.  Beecher,  to  his  astonishment, 
that  he  was  looking  on  the  original  of  his  own 
description,  and  could  hardly  believe  Mr.  Beecher's 
solemn  assertion  that  he  had  never  set  eyes  on  the 
flower  before.  ^- — ^ 

The  study  of  men  now  began  to  grow  with  Mr.    [ 
Beecher  into  a  habit  which  was  continued  through-,     ^ 
out  his  life.    As  a  boy  at  college  he  had  taken  uj? 
phrenology  and  put  into  the  study  of  it  much  more 
enthusiasm  than  he  did  into  scholastic  philosophy ; 
he  accepted  in  the  main  its  craniology ;  observed 
critically  the  shape  of  men's  heads,  their  complex- 
ion,  the  color  of  their  eyes  and  hair ;  classified  ' 
them  according  to  their  temperaments,  and  judged 
of  them  accordingly.   This  method  of  study,  entered 
upon  in  an  amateurish  way  in  college,  became  now 
instinctive.    But  it  was  men  not  phrenology  which 
interested  him,  and  phrenology  only  because  it  was 
a  means  of  studpng  men.     His  interest   in  men  | 
was  both  personal  and  professional  ;  the  two  were 
so  intermingled  that  it  would  be  as  impossible  for 


62  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

his  biographer  as  I  doubt  not  it  was  for  him  to 
discriminate  between  them.  He  mixed  with  all 
sorts  of  men,  partly  because  all  sorts  of  men  inter- 
ested him  dramatically,  partly  because  he  wished 
to  study  them  as  a  lawyer  studies  his  jury,  or  as  a 
doctor  studies  his  patients.  It  is  said  of  Christ 
that  he  knew  what  was  in  men  ;  Mr.  Beecher  made 
it  his  business  to  learn  what  is  in  man  —  the  aver- 
age man,  the  merchant,  the  lawyer,  the  politician, 
the  man  of  the  street  and  the  shop.  He  was  as 
audacious  in  his  disregard  of  social  distinctions  as 
was  his  Master  ;  as  careless  of  what  people  would 
say  or  think.  When  in  his  course  of  "  Lectures  to 
Young  Men,"  of  which  I  shall  speak  more  fully 
presently,  he  wished  to  depict  the  perils  of  gam- 
bling, then  the  popular  vice  in  Indianapolis,  he 
succeeded,  I  know  not  by  what  method,  in  getting 
one  of  the  gambling  fraternity  to  visit  him  in  his 
study,  and  describe  to  him  the  practices  of  the 
profession,  as  a  novelist  might  have  done  had  he 
wished  to  dramatize  the  vice.  The  result  was  a 
description  so  realistic  and  vivid  as  to  stir  the 
whole  capital  as  it  had  never  been  stirred  on  that 
subject  before.  Yet  his  professional  interest  in 
humanity  was  only  an  incident  in  an  interest  which 
was  far  wider.  All  life  appealed  to  him ;  aU 
opportunity  summoned  him ;  every  kind  of  achieve- 
ment had  attractions  for  him.  Washington  Hall 
took  fire.  "  Mr.  Beecher,"  Mr.  Hallaway  tells  us 
in  his  "  History  of  Indianapolis,"  "  was  one  of  the 
foremost  in  carrying  the  hose-pipe  right  into  the 


EARLY  MINISTRY  63 

burning  portion  of  the  house,  and  after  two  hours' 
work,  came  out  a  mass  of  soot  and  dirt  and  ice 
and  blood  from  his  cut  hands;  but  with  the  fire 
subdued."  Yet  these  and  kindred  incidents  were 
but  incidents ;  his  work  was  that  of  a  preacher, 
and  to  preaching  everything  else  in  his  life  was 
subordinated. 

Mr.  Beecher's  preaching  at  this  period  of  his 
life  was  preeminently  revival  preaching ;  but  the 
reader  would  misapprehend  its  nature  if  he  thought, 
from  this  characterization  of  it,  that  it  was  devoted 
to  producing  emotional  excitements.  Emotional  it 
certainly  was,  for  the  young  preacher  threw  his 
heart  into  everything  he  said ;  he  believed,  to  use 
Paul's  phrase,  "  with  the  heart  unto  righteous- 
ness." But  with  him  the  one  clause  was  as  essen- 
tial as  the  other.  He  was  preeminently  a  practical 
preacher.  His  three  sermons  on  slavery  produced, 
in  their  way,  as  real  an  impression  in  Indianapolis 
as  his  father's  six  sermons  on  intemperance  had 
produced  nineteen  years  before  in  Connecticut, 
though  the  impression  was  more  local  and  more 
temporary.  But  his  most  distinctive  and  most  per- 
manent work  in  his  Indianapolis  pastorate  was  his 
course  of  "  Lectures  to  Young  Men."  These  are, 
indeed,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  only  sermons  of  his 
Indianapolis  ministry  wliich  have  been  preserved.^ 
They  illustrate  all  the  combined  characteristics  of 

1  One  special  sermon  and  one  address  delivered  in  the  West 
were  printed,  but  they  are  out  of  print.  See  Bibliography  in  end 
of  this  volume. 


64  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

his  power  as  a  preacher  :  his  knowledge  of  men ; 
his  grasp  of  moral  principles ;  his  quick  detection 
of  hypocrisies  and  false  pretenses  with  which  vices 
are  disguised ;  his  logical  power  of  orderly  arrange- 
ment of  thought ;  his  artistic  power  of  graphic  por- 
traiture ;  his  directness  of  purpose ;  his  incisive- 
ness  of  speech ;  and,  above  all,  his  absolute  courage. 
I  wish  it  were  possible  to  transfer  to  these  pages 
the  whole  of  his  lecture  on  "  Gamblers  and  Gam- 
bling," and  ask  the  reader  to  consider  it  as  de- 
livered by  a  soul  on  fire  with  an  eager  purpose  to 
save  young  men,  using  voice,  face,  and  gesture,  all 
thoroughly  trained  instruments  of  expression,  and 
si^oken  to  a  community  in  which  gambling  consti- 
tuted a  recognized  and  profitable  profession. 

His  text  is  the  picture  of  the  soldiers  gambling  at 
the  foot  of  the  Cross.  He  begins  by  describing  the 
vice  of  gambling ;  portrays  the  first  steps  —  a  com- 
paratively innocent  wager  of  a  sixpence  over  a 
pack  of  cards  ;  traces  the  downward  progress,  as 
he  has  seen  it  himself,  and  sets,  as  in  a  Rogues' 
Gallery,  the  photographic  likenesses  of  the  dif- 
ferent types  of  gamblers  —  the  taciturn,  quiet 
gambler  ;  the  jolly,  roystering  gambler  ;  the  lying, 
cheating  gambler  ;  the  broken-down  lawyer  or  poli- 
tician, turned  gambler.  Next  he  traces  the  evil  of 
gambling  to  its  source  and  spring  —  the  passion 
for  excitement ;  and  describes  the  evils  which  it  be- 
gets —  idleness,  the  overthrow  of  domesticity,  the 
provocation  to  other  vices,  especially  drink  and  dis- 
honesty ;  all  this  given  in  words  which,  even  now. 


EARLY  MINISTRY  65 

read  in  a  wholly  different  atmosphere,  and  sixty 
years  after  they  were  uttered,  are  aflame  with  the 
speaker's  indignation.  He  ends  his  sermon  with 
four  pictures  portraying  the  successive  scenes  in  a 
gambler's  life.  Two  of  these  scenes  I  transfer  to 
these  pages  as  an  illustration  of  the  type  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  oratory  in  1840,  though  with  full  con- 
sciousness that  these  paragraphs,  wrested  from 
their  connection,  do  his  oratory  injustice. 

Scene  the  third.  Years  have  passed  on.  He  has  seen 
youth  ruined,  at  first  with  expostulation,  then  with  only 
silent  regret,  then  consenting  to  take  part  of  the  spoils ; 
and,  finally,  he  has  himself  decoyed,  and  stripped  them 
without  mercy.  Go  with  me  into  that  dilapidated  house, 
not  far  from  the  landing  at  New  Orleans.  Look  into 
that  dirty  room.  Around  a  broken  table,  sitting  upon 
boxes,  kegs,  or  rickety  chairs,  see  a  filthy  crew  dealing 
cards  smouched  with  tobacco,  grease,  and  liquor.  One 
has  a  pirate-face  burnished  and  burnt  with  brandy  ;  a 
shock  of  grizzly,  matted  hair,  half  covering  his  villain 
eyes,  which  glare  out  like  a  wild  beast's  from  a  thicket. 
Close  by  him  wheezes  a  white-faced,  dropsical  wretch, 
vermin-covered,  and  stenchful.  A  scoundrel  Spaniard 
and  a  burly  negro  (the  joUiest  of  the  four)  complete  the 
group.  They  have  spectators,  —  drunken  sailors,  and 
ogling,  thieving,  drinking  women,  who  should  have  died 
long  ago,  when  all  that  was  womanly  died.  Here  hour 
draws  on  hour,  sometimes  with  brutal  laughter,  some- 
times with  threat  and  oath  and  uproar.  The  last  few 
stolen  dollars  lost,  and  temper  too,  each  charges  each 
with  cheating,  and  high  words  ensue,  and  blows ;  and  the 
whole  gang  burst  out  the  door,  beating,  biting,  scratching, 
and  rolling  over  and  over  in  the  dirt  and  dust.  The  worst, 


66  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

the  fiercest,  the  drunkest  of  the  four  is  our  friend  who 
began  by  making  up  the  game. 

Scene  the  fourth.  Upon  this  bright  day  stand  with 
me,  if  you  would  be  sick  of  humanity,  and  look  over  that 
multitude  of  men  kindly  gathered  to  see  a  murderer 
hung.  At  last  a  guarded  cart  drags  on  a  thrice-guarded 
wretch.  At  the  gallows'  ladder  his  courage  fails.  His 
coward  feet  refuse  to  ascend ;  dragged  up,  he  is  sup- 
ported by  bustling  officials  ;  his  brain  reels,  his  eye 
swims,  while  the  meek  minister  utters  a  final  prayer  by 
his  leaden  ear.  The  prayer  is  said,  the  noose  is  fixed, 
the  signal  is  given  ;  a  shudder  runs  through  the  crowd 
as  he  swings  free.  After  a  moment  his  convulsed  limbs 
stretch  down  and  hang  heavily  and  still ;  and  he  who 
began  to  gamble  to  make  up  a  game,  and  ended  with 
stabbing  an  enraged  victim  whom  he  had  fleeced,  has 
here  played  his  last  game,  —  himself  the  stake. 

No  doubt  the  modern  critic  will  condemn  these 
pictures  as  over-oratorical,  as  he  will  condemn 
Hogarth's  pictures  of  "  The  Rake's  Progress  "  as 
theatrical ;  for  what  the  second  are  in  art,  the  first 
are  in  literature.  But  oratory  is  to  be  measured 
by  its  practical  effectiveness.  It  is  an  instrument 
for  producing  results,  and  the  instrument  must  be 
adapted  to  the  time,  the  place,  the  circumstance ; 
the  orator  is  himself  in  some  sense  a  product  of 
that  time  and  place  and  circumstance.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  the  oratory  of  Daniel  Webster  would 
hold  the  United  States  Senate  to-day ;  it  is  certain 
that  the  oratory  of  Rufus  Choate  would  not  win 
from  the  juries  of  to-day  the  verdicts  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  win  from  the  juries  of  his  time.    Mr. 


EARLY  MINISTRY  67 

Beecher's  later  preacliing  in  a  different  community 
possessed  a  different  quality,  as  we  shall  see.  The 
one  conclusive  answer  to  all  criticisms  on  his  ora- 
tory in  Indianapolis  in  1840  is  the  fact  that  the 
year  following  their  delivery,  and,  as  there  is  good 
reason  to  believe,  in  no  small  measure  as  a  conse- 
quence of  their  delivery,  the  professional  gamblers 
were  driven  out  of  Indianapohs  by  a  committee 
organized  to  carry  on  a  war  against  them,  and 
threatening  them  with  prosecutions  which  they 
thought  it  best  to  avoid  by  flight. 

Thus  throughout  the  eight  years  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
pastorate  in  Indianapolis  he  was  more  than  a  par- 
ish minister;  he  was  preacher,  editor,  moral  re- 
former, public  citizen.  Throughout  those  years  the 
popular  judgments  respecting  him  were  as  conflict- 
ing as  they  were  in  his  later  life.  He  was  variously 
regarded  with  love,  with  admiration,  with  distrust, 
with  dread,  with  bitter  hatred.  "  Woe  unto  you," 
said  Christ,  "  when  all  men  speak  well  of  you !  " 
Never  in  his  ministry  did  Mr.  Beecher  fall  under 
this  condemnation.  He  paid  little  heed  to  the  theo-  / 
logical  discussions  which  were  at  that  time  the  X 
subject  of  heated  debate  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  To  men  who  regarded  religion  as  identical 
with  theology  his  indifference  to  theology  seemed 
to  be  irreligion.  His  sense  of  humor  confirmed 
this  impression  in  the  minds  of  that  considerable 
class  who  think  that  a  man  cannot  be  serious  unless 

he  is  always  solemn.    His  disregard  of  social  con- ^ 

ventionalism  shocked  the  taste  of  some,  his  disre-.^  o'  ^f'*f, 

/N>^     


68  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

gard  of  religious  conventionalism  made  him  seem 
irreverent  to  others.  Pie  was  by  nature  a  radical 
and  a  reformer.  To  those  who  regard  social  safety 
as  dependent  upon  the  preservation  of  the  estab- 
lished order  he  appeared,  as  Paul  did  to  the  same 
class  of  minds  in  the  first  century,  as  one  bent  on 
turning  the  world  upside  down  ;  they  dreaded  him. 
To  the  lewd  fellows  of  the  baser  sort  he  was  espe- 
cially obnoxious.  He  did  not  concern  himself  with 
the  question  of  the  Fall,  or  the  extent  or  degree 
of  Total  Depravity ,  and  already  foreshadowed,  by 
his  indifference  to  these  doctrines,  his  later  re- 
pudiation of  them.  But  if  he  did  not  preach 
against  sin  in  the  abstract,  he  acquainted  himself 
Avith  the  sins  which  were  current  and  popular  in 
the  city  in  which  he  ministered,  and  described 
them  in  scathing  terms,  and  condemned  them  with 
a  fiery  indignation,  of  which  the  quotation  I  have 
given  above  furnishes  a  single  illustration.  The 
men  who  profited  by  drunkenness  and  gambling 
found  their  traffic  interfered  with,  and  felt  the 
latent  moral  sense  of  the  community  aroused 
against  them,  and  they  hated  him.  More  than 
onQe^he  was  threatened  with  assault ;  but  he  never 
believed  in  non-resistance ;  he  was  vigorous  and 
muscidar  ;  and  though  I  do  not  know  that  he  was 
familiar  with  the  art  of  boxing,  it  is  certain  that, 
had  he  been  assailed,  he  would  have  lacked  neither 
the  will  nor  the  power  to  make  a  vigorous  defense. 
He  was  absolutely  fearless,  and  this  was  itself  a 
protection.    On  one  occasion  it  is  narrated  of  him 


EARLY  MINISTRY  G9 

that  a  would-be  assailant  met  him  on  the  street, 
pistol  In  hand,  and  demanded  of  him  a  retraction 
of  some  utterance  of  the  preceding  Sunday.  "  Take 
it  back  right  here,"  he  demanded,  with  an  oath, 
"  or  I  will  shoot  you  on  the  spot."  "  Shoot  away," 
was  the  preacher's  response,  as  he  walked  calmly 
on.  Whether  the  would-be  assassin  was  cowed 
by  the  preacher's  calmness,  or  whether  he  only 
intended  a  threat  which  he  did  not  mean  to  carry 
out,  the  shooting  did  not  take  place. 

But  If  Mr.  Beecher  was  distrusted,  dreaded,  and 
hated  by  some  classes  in  the  community,  he  was 
admired  and  loved  by  others.  To  his  dying  day 
he  retained  a  boyish  nature.  His  love  for  children, 
his  unaffected  and  spontaneous  Interest  In  their  life 
and  in  all  their  sports  drew  the  children  to  him. 
"  Children  and  dogs,"  he  once  said,  "  are  good 
judges  of  human  nature."  He  stood  this  test  weU. 
There  are  some  persons  whose  sympathetic  nature 
is  chiefly  receptive  —  they  need  sympathy;  there 
are  others  whose  sympathy  enables  them  to  under- 
stand the  perplexities,  the  burdens,  and  the  sorrows 
of  others,  and  whose  strength  makes  them  a  tower 
of  refuge  into  which  the  pursued  may  flee.  Such 
was  Mr.  Beecher's  nature  ;  his  sympathy  was  a 
door  at  which  any  one  might  knock,  through  which 
any  one  in  any  kind  of  trouble  might  enter.  This 
combination  of  sympathy  and  strength  drew  to 
him  the  troubled  and  distraught.  Of  pastoral 
work.  In  the  conventional  sense  of  that  term,  he 
did  very  little ;    but  he   rendered  personal  help, 


70  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

through  personal  sympathy,  to  many  who  were  not 
in  his  church  or  regular  attendants  upon  his  min- 
istry. His  interest  in  public  questions,  his  know- 
ledge of  actual  conditions,  his  audacity  in  describ- 
ing them  as  they  existed,  his  courage  in  confronting 
them,  and  in  challenging  to  battle  those  who  lived 
by  the  weaknesses,  the  foUies,  and  the  vices  of 
mankind,  fascinated  the  strong  men  of  the  com- 
munity, and  drew  them  to  hear  him  ;  many  went 
away  to  criticise,  but  returned  again,  attracted  in 
spite  of  themselves.  His  unfeigned  love  of  his  fel- 
low men,  his  indomitable  faith  in  them  and  hope 
for  them,  inspired  similar  faith  and  hope  and  love 
in  others ;  for  these  are  qualities  which  are  always 
contagious.  His  presentation  of  God  as  a  Father 
of  infinite  compassion,  whose  character  is  revealed 
in  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  was,  in  that  time 
and  place,  extraordinarily  novel ;  men  knew  not 
what  to  make  of  it ;  and  curiosity  commingled 
with  higher  motives  to  attract  audiences  eager  to 
hear  this  strange  gospel.  The  sincerity  and  sim- 
plicity of  the  preacher's  faith,  and  his  unmistak- 
able access  to  God  in  public  prayer,  with  whom  he 
talked  as  with  a  friend  in  familiar  intercourse, 
appealed  to  the  truly  devout  souls,  and  brought  to 
him  that  kind  of  gratitude  and  affection  which  the 
soul  always  feels  toward  one  who  has  brought  him 
into  a  new  fellowship  with  God.  His  message  was 
interpreted  with  a  freshness  of  thought,  a  vividness 
of  imagination,  a  power  of  impassioned  feeling, 
and  an  oratorical  skill,  which  had  become  to  him  a 


EARLY  MINISTRY  71 

second  nature  ;  but  these  outward  qualities  would 
never  have  given  him  his  influence  had  they  not 
been  instruments  for  the  expression  of  a  gospel  of 
life  and  love.  His  reputation  extended  throughout 
the  state.  When  men  came  up  to  the  capital  they 
went  as  matter  of  course  to  hear  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  if  they  remained  in  the  city  over  Sunday. 
Saints  and  sinners  alike  crowded  to  hear  him.  The 
echoes  of  his  fame  extended  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  the  state.  He  began  to  be  heard  of  on  the  At- 
lantic seaboard.  Simultaneously  he  received  two 
invitations  —  one  to  become  assistant  pastor  in  the 
old  established  and  famous  Park  Street  Congrega- 
tional Church,  of  Boston,  then,  next  to  the  Old 
South  Church  in  Boston,  the  most  influential  one 
of  the  denomination  in  the  United  States  ;  the 
other  to  the  just  organized  Plymouth  Church  of 
Brooklyn.  He  had  expected  to  spend  his  life  out 
in  the  West ;  but  his  life  in  the  West  proved  to 
be  only  a  preparation  for  a  larger  life  of  national 
influence  and  importance. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PLYMOUTH    CHURCH 

Opposite  the  lower  end  of  Manhattan  Island, 
and  separated  from  it  by  the  East  River,  Long 
Island  rises  in  a  precipitous  bluff  from  sixty  to 
seventy  feet  above  the  tidal  water  at  its  base. 
This  bluff  extends  along  the  river  for  nearly  a 
mile,  and  early  became  a  residence  district  for 
merchants  doing  business  in  the  adjoining  city. 
The  region  still  bears  the  name  of  Brooklyn 
*  Heights,  or  in  local  parlance,  "  The  Heights."  In 
1847  Brooklyn,  which  had  been  incorporated  thir- 
teen years  before,  had  become  a  city  of  sixty  thou- 
sand inhabitants ;  New  York  contained  half  a 
million  of  inhabitants,  and  extended  from  the  Bat- 
tery to  Fourteenth  Street,  beyond  which  was  open 
country.  On  the  northern  edge  of  *'  The  Heights," 
where  the  hill  slopes  down  to  the  river,  was  a  Pres- 
byterian church.  The  worshipers  had  found  its 
location  unsatisfactory  because  too  far  from  the 
centre  of  the  aristocratic  section,  all  of  which 
lay  to  the  south ;  to  the  north  was,  and  still  is,  a 
population  to  which  a  church  may  minister,  but 
which  can  do  little  to  build  up  a  church.  The 
church  had  therefore  purchased  lots  farther  south, 
on  "  The  Heights,"  and  they  offered  their  Orange 


PLYMOUTH   CHURCH  73 

Street  property  for  sale.  Half  a  dozen  earnest 
Congregationalists  interested,  as  subsequent  liistory 
showed,  less  in  Congregationalism  than  in  that 
theological  and  civic  liberty  for  which  the  Puritan 
churches  have  historically  stood,  decided  to  pur- 
chase this  property  and  make  it  a  nesting-place  for 
a  second  Congregational  church  in  the  city  of 
Brooklyn.  They  purchased  the  property  for  twenty 
thousand  dollars,  and  then  looked  about  for  a 
preacher,  a  church,  and  a  congregation.  At  that 
time  the  great  religious  and  philanthropic  societies 
were  accustomed  to  hold  their  annual  meetings 
during  one  week  in  May,  which  was  accordingly 
designated  Anniversary  Week.  Mr.  William  T. 
Cutter,  one  of  the  men  interested  in  the  new  enter- 
prise, who  had  heard  Mr.  Beecher  in  the  West, 
secured  from  one  of  the  missionary  societies  an 
invitation  to  him  to  deliver  the  annual  address  or 
sermon  on  this  Anniversary  Week.  Thus  brought 
to  New  York,  it  was  not  difficult  to  secure  his  con- 
sent to  preach  in  the  Orange  Street  church  edifice 
on  Sunday.  He  afterwards  said  that  he  accepted 
the  invitation  to  deliver  the  missionary  address  in 
order  "  to  urge  young  men  to  go  West,  to  show 
what  a  good  field  the  West  was,  and  to  cast  some 
fiery  arrows  at  men  tliat  had  worked  there  and 
got  tired  and  slunk  away  and  come  back.  ...  I 
came  East  not  knowing  what  I  did  ;  it  was  a  trap." 
The  unconscious  candidate  of  the  unborn  church 
produced  the  impression  which  Mr.  Cutter  believed 
lie  would   produce.    Early  in  June   a  church  of 


74  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

twenty-one  members  was  organized,  and  a  call  was 
at  once  extended  to  Mr.  Beecher  to  become  its 
pastor.  An  almost  simultaneous  call  to  the  Park 
Street  Church  in  Boston  was  promptly  declined ; 
with  more  hesitation  and  after  considerable  delay 
the  call  to  Brooklyn  was  accepted.  A  few  sen- 
tences from  a  private  letter,  written  in  the  pre- 
liminary correspondence  before  the  question  was 
settled,  indicate  the  spirit  with  which  the  young 
preacher  entered  upon  his  new  field.  As  the  letter 
expresses  with  great  clearness  and  evident  sincerity 
the  purpose  which  animated  Mr.  Beecher  through- 
out his  career,  it  is  worth  quoting  at  some  length. 

But  if  ever  I  come  to  you  or  go  to  any  other  place, 
although  I  have  no  plans  as  to  situations,  I  have,  I  hope, 
an  immovable  plan  in  respect  to  the  objects  which  I 
shall  pursue.  So  help  me  God,  I  do  not  mean  to  be  a 
jparty  Tnan,  nor  to  head  or  follow  any  partisan  effort. 
I  I  desire  to  aid  in  a  development  of  truth  and  in  the  pro- 
duction of  goodness  by  it.  I  do  not  care  in  whose  hands 
truth  may  be  found,  or  in  what  communion  ;  I  will 
thankfully  take  it  of  any.  Nor  do  I  feel  bound  in  any 
sort  to  look  upon  untruth  or  mistake  with  favor  because 
it  lies  within  the  sphere  of  any  church  to  which  I  may 
be  attached. 

I  do  not  have  that  mawkish  charity  which  seems  to 
arise  from  regarding  all  tenets  as  pretty  much  alike  — 
the  charity,  in  fact,  of  indifference  —  but  another  sort : 
a  hunger  for  what  is  true,  an  exultation  in  the  sight  of 
it,  and  such  an  estimate  and  glory  in  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Christ  that  no  distinction  of  sect  or  form  shall  be  for 
one  moment  worthy  to  be  compared  with  it.  I  will  over- 
leap anything  that  stands  between  me  and  truth.    Who- 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  75 

ever  loves  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  and  in 
truth  is  my  brother.  He  that  doeth  God's  will  was,  in 
Christ's  judgment,  His  mother.  His  sister.  His  brother, 
His  friend,  His  disciple. 

On  the  first  Sunday  of  his  public  ministry,  Octo- 
ber 10,  1847,  the  preacher  made  his  position  per- 
fectly clear.  His  morning  sermon  was  on  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  source  of  true  religion,  and  the  power 
of  personal  character ;  the  evening  sermon  on  the 
relation  of  the  Church  to  the  public  ethical  pro- 
blems of  the  day  —  specifically,  its  duty  to  deal 
honestly  and  courageously  with  intemperance  and 
with  slavery.  The  reader  of  the  present  generation 
cannot  easily  comprehend  what  such  an  utterance 
as  this  indicated  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  in  what  was  practically  part  of  the  com- 
mercial metropolis  of  the  nation.  Not  only  were 
the  great  missionary  societies  silent  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  not  only  were  the  churches,  with  rare 
exceptions,  equally  silent,  but  this  silence  was  de- 
fended and  eulogized.  Religion  was  regarded  as  a 
purely  personal  matter ;  its  office  to  make  right 
the  relations  of  the  individual  soul  with  God.  This 
done,  it  was  assumed  that  the  relations  between 
individuals  would  of  themselves  become  righteous, 
and  the  social  duties  due  from  man  to  his  fellow 
men  would  be  performed.  Hence  the  pulpit  had 
little  to  say  respecting  the  purely  temporal  and 
social  aspects  of  life,  and,  with  rare  exceptions, 
nothing  concerning  its  political  aspects,  except  on 
special  occasions,  as  on  fast  days  and  thanksgiving 


76  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

days,  and  even  then  only  to  a  limited  extent.  The 
revolution  in  preaching,  which,  as  a  result  has 
made  the  pulpit  a  powerful  force  in  dealing  with 
every-day  problems,  —  a  revolution  in  which  Mr. 
Beecher  was  a  foremost  leader,  —  has  been  so  suc- 
cessful that  those  who  know  only  the  American 
pulpit  of  to-day  can  hardly  imagine  what  it  was  in 
1847.  No  doubt  the  desire  for  peace,  the  fear  of 
disturbing  the  churches,  the  consciousness  in  the 
preachers  of  inability  to  deal  with  the  complicated 
problem  of  slavery  for  which  they  had  received  no 
special  training,  the  spirit  of  conservatism  which 
makes  any  innovation  seem  difficult  if  not  danger- 
ous, and  the  strong  political  and  commercial  inter- 
ests banded  together  in  the  support  of  the  slave- 
cracy  combined  to  make  silence  easy  and  speech 
difficult ;  yet  it  is  but  just  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  Christian  religion  in  that  generation  was 
largely  regarded  as  a  means,  not  for  making  life 
on  this  earth  better  and  happier,  but  for  prepar- 
ing, in  this  life,  by  theological  beliefs  or  by  so- 
called  religious  experiences,  for  a  better  and  hap- 
pier life  hereafter. 

Whether  because  the  doctrines  which  he  pre- 
sented were  obnoxious,  or  because  his  Western 
unconventionality  repelled  more  than  it  attracted, 
or  because  there  were  few  or  no  social  influences 
to  draw  men  to  the  new  enterprise,  or  because  the 
preacher  had  not  yet  got  himself  in  hand,  did  not 
understand  his  surroundings,  had  not,  as  the  say- 
ing is,  found  himseK,  or  simply  because  the  best 


PLYMOUTH   CHURCH  77 

and  most  effective  public  teaching  does  not  in- 
stantly attract,  the  new  preacher  at  first  drew  but 
moderate  congregations.  It  was  not  until  early  in 
1848,  that  is,  after  six  months  of  preaching,  that 
the  church  building  began  to  be  crowded ;  but 
from  that  time  on,  it  was  unable  to  accommodate 
the  congregations.  It  was  therefore  not  a  disaster 
but  a  good  fortune  that  in  1849  the  church  build- 
ing was  so  badly  damaged  by  fire  that  it  became 
necessary  to  rebuild.  A  temporary  "  tabernacle  " 
of  wood  was  erected  to  serve  as  a  place  of  worship 
until  the  first  Sunday  in  January,  1850,  when  the 
new  church  was  ready  for  occupancy.  This  con- 
sisted of  two  buildings  —  the  church  auditorium, 
and  the  lecture  and  Sunday-school  room ;  the 
latter  in  two  stories,  the  lecture-room  below,  the 
Sunday-school  room  above,  with  what  was  then  a 
novelty  in  church  architecture,  social  parlors,^  and 
I  believe  also  a  kitchen.  The  size  of  the  audito- 
rium was,  in  popular  rej)orts,  exaggerated ;  its 
legitimate  seating  capacity  was  2050.  This  was 
subsequently  increased  by  aisle  seats  so  contrived 
as  to  be  folded,  when  not  in  use,  against  the  adjoin- 
ing pew.  Including  those  occupying  these  seats, 
the  average  congregation  during  Mr.  Beecher's 
ministry  approximated  twxnty-five  hundred ;  in- 
cluding those  who  stood  in  the  vacant  spaces  or  on 
the  stairs  and  in  the  haUways  the  auditorium  some- 
times contained  approximately  three  thousand. 

1  These  were  subsequently  thrown  into  the  Sunday-school  room 
to  accommodate  the  increasing  number  of  pupils.  The  present  par- 
lors were  built  in  1SG2. 


78  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

Baedeker's  "  United  States  "  characterizes  Ply- 
mouth Church  as  "  without  architectural  preten- 
sions." It  is,  indeed,  both  in  exterior  and  interior, 
absolutely  unadorned.  It  contains  no  stained-glass 
windows  and  no  ecclesiastical  ornaments,  and  is 
characterized  by  no  architectural  beauty.  This 
was  due  to  no  accident  but  to  deliberate  design. 
There  are  two  services  which,  from  the  earliest 
ages,  the  Church  of  God  has  rendered  in  the  com- 
munity :  it  has  expressed  and  at  the  same  time 
cultivated  the  piety  of  devout  souls ;  and  it  has 
furnished  religious  instruction  and  inspiration  both 
to  the  devout  and  to  the  undevout.  These  services 
can  be  conjoined  ;  but  they  also  can  be  and  some- 
times have  been  entirely  separated.  In  the  Jewish 
Church  the  worship  was  conducted  by  the  priest- 
hood, who  gave  no  religious  instruction  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Temple  services  ;  religious  instruction 
was  given  by  the  prophets,  who  conducted  no  wor- 
ship in  connection  with  their  public  teaching.  In 
Christ's  conversation  with  his  disciples  at  the  Last 
Supper,  as  recorded  in  the  Fourth  Gospel,  devotion 
and  instruction  were  intermingled  ;  but  no  public 
worship  accompanied  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  as 
it  is  recorded  by  Matthew.  Prayer  and  teaching 
were  combined  in  the  simple  services  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church,  held  in  the  houses  of  disciples ;  but 
Paul's  famous  sermon  at  Athens  was  unaccompar 
nied  with  any  worship.  In  the  modern  church  the 
worship  and  the  instruction  are  habitually  though 
not  always  united  ;  but  in  one  class  of  churches 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  79 

greater  provision  is  made  for  the  worship,  in  the 
other  for  the  teaching.  The  Roman  Catholic  and 
Episcopal  churches  lay  emphasis  on  the  ritual  and 
the  sacraments,  and  relegate  the  sermon  to  a 
second  place  or  omit  it  altogether  ;  the  Puritan 
churches  make  the  sermon  predominant  and  at- 
tach less  relative  importance  to  prayer  and  praise. 
The  first  construct  a  cathedral,  equip  it  with  aU 
the  aesthetic  elements,  musical  and  artistic,  capable 
of  promoting  spiritual  delight  in  the  worshiper, 
and  allow  this  cathedral  to  be  used  for  no  other 
purpose  than  that  of  the  worship  of  God,  generally 
but  not  always  accompanied  with  public  instruc- 
tion. The  second  build  a  "  meeting-house,"  where 
the  people  of  the  community  may  gather  for  any 
legitimate  function,  where  academic  exercises  may 
be  held,  literary,  political,  and  moral  reform  lec- 
tures may  be  delivered,  and  on  Sunday  religious 
instruction  may  be  afforded,  which  is  almost  in- 
variably though  not  necessarily  accompanied  with 
public  worship.  The  best  type  in  America  of  the 
first  conception  of  the  church  building  as  a  house 
of  worship  is  probably  that  furnished  by  Trinity 
Church,  Boston  ;  the  best  type  in  America  of  the 
second  conception  of  the  church  building  as  a 
house  for  religious  instruction  is  probably  that 
furnished  by  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  in  church,  hall,  or  thea- 
tre a  more  perfect  auditorium.  Standing  upon  the 
platform,  which  serves  as  a  pulpit,  the  speaker  is 
seen  by  every  person  in  the  house  —  there  are  no 


80  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

great  pillars  to  obstruct  the  view  —  and  heard  by 
every  auditor  in  the  house  —  there  is  no  vaulted 
roof  in  which  the  voice  is  lost,  no  angles  to  catch 
and  to  deflect  it.  A  voice  of  very  ordinary  carry- 
ing power  can  be  heard  in  a  conversational  tone 
throughout  the  edifice,  and  a  voice  hke  Mr. 
Beecher's,  of  extraordinary  carrying  power,  can 
be  heard  in  tones  scarcely  raised  above  a  whis- 
per. For  nearly  forty  years  Mr.  Beecher  preached 
in  this  meeting-house.  Without  adventitious  aids, 
either  musical  or  aesthetic,  by  the  simple  power  of 
his  oratory  as  some  would  say,  of  his  personal 
character  I  should  prefer  to  say,  he  drew  to  this 
meeting-house  a  congregation  which  ordinarily 
filled  every  seat,  and  which  often  so  crowded  it 
that  hundreds  were  turned  away  unable  to  get 
admittance. 

The  congregation  was  large  but  not  wealthy. 
Wealth  is  conservative,  and  Mr.  Beecher's  radical- 
ism repelled  those  who  were  interested  in  main- 
taining: the  established  order.  To  meet  the  cost  of 
the  church  a  scheme  was  devised  of  popular  sub- 
scriptions to  stock,  the  interest  of  which  was  pay- 
able in  pew  rents  only,  the  principal  being  payable 
from  the  surplus  revenues  of  the  church.  The  pro- 
blem how  to  pay  the  current  expenses  still  remained 
to  be  solved.  This  is  always  a  problem  of  difficulty, 
but  in  the  case  of  Plymouth  Church  it  was  one  of 
peculiar  difficulty  ;  for  almost  from  the  day  of  the 
completion  of  the  new  edifice  the  demand  for  pews 
was  in  excess  of  the  supply.    How  to  meet  this 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  81 

demand  without  favoritism,  and  without  exclud- 
ing by  high  prices  the  plain  people  to  whom  Mr. 
Beecher  wished  to  preach,  was  a  question  not  easily- 
answered.  To  answer  it  a  rental  was  attached  to 
the  pews  lower  than  that  customarily  charged  in 
other  churches  in  the  city,  and  for  a  considerable 
number  of  the  pews  so  low  that  no  one  need  feel 
himself  excluded  by  reason  of  the  expense  ;  then 
every  year  the  pews  were  put  up  for  hire  at  public 
auction  ;  and  the  sums  bid  in  excess  of  the  rent 
attached  were  added  to  the  fixed  rents  in  making 
up  the  income  of  the  church.  Good-natured  rivalry 
among  certain  of  the  wealthier  or  more  prominent 
members  of  the  church  often  pushed  up  the  price 
of  a  few  seats  in  the  centre  of  the  church  to  a  high 
figure  ;  others  were  bid  in  at  a  moderate  premium ; 
a  large  number  were  always  left  to  be  taken  with- 
out any  premium  at  all.  This  plan  of  "  auctioning 
off  "  the  pews,  which  was  discontinued  after  Mr. 
Beecher's  death,  is  not  free  from  objection,  but  the 
objection  is  chiefly  one  of  sentiment.  While  it  was 
in  operation  it  resulted  in  giving  an  income  which 
speedily  paid  off  the  debt  upon  the  church,  and 
thereafter  furnished,  over  and  above  all  the  church 
expenses,  a  considerable  sura  which  was  wisely  used 
in  paying  the  cost  of  the  city  missionary  enterprises 
which  the  church  carried  on. 

The  church  was  Congregational.  Mr.  Beecher 
was  radical,  the  members  who  gathered  about  him 
were  radicals,  and  the  church  was  in  its  Congrega- 
tionalism radical.    The  principles  of  Congregation- 


82  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

alism  are  two.  First,  the  independence  of  the  local 
church.  Each  church  is  absolutely  autonomous, 
frames  its  own  organization,  adopts  its  own  creed, 
arranges  its  own  ritual,  administers  its  own  dis- 
cipline. From  its  decisions  there  is  no  appeal ;  it 
recognizes  no  superior  ecclesiastical  body.  There 
is,  it  is  true,  a  fellowship  of  the  churches,  but  it  is 
simply  fellowship.  The  Conferences  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches  are  social  and  intellectual 
assemblies ;  the  Councils  of  the  Congregational 
churches  are  bodies  to  give  advice,  not  to  enact 
law.  The  relation  between  Congregational  churches 
Mr.  Beecher  has  somewhere  aptly  compared  to 
the  relations  between  families  in  a  village :  if  one 
family  misbehaves  itself,  the  others  cease  to  visit 
it ;  but  they  have  no  power  over  its  local  adminis- 
tration of  its  own  concerns.  The  other  principle 
of  Congregationalism  is  the  absolute  equality  of 
all  its  members.  The  minister  is  without  any 
ecclesiastical  authority  whatever.  Theoretically  he 
may  be,  and  in  England  he  sometimes  is,  simply  a 
layman,  selected  by  the  congregation  to  be  their 
teacher  because  he  is  apt  to  teach.  No  doubt  in 
practice  these  principles  are  sometimes  materially 
modified.  The  resolutions  of  Conferences  and  the 
acts  of  Councils  come  to  have  the  effect  of  law ; 
the  withdrawal  of  fellowship,  the  effect  of  penalty. 
A  church  which  in  its  creed,  its  ritual,  or  its  dis- 
cipline departs  too  far  from  the  traditions  and 
habits  of  other  Congregational  churches  is  liable 
to  be  disfellowshiped  and  to  suffer  opprobrium,  if 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  83 

nothing  worse,  in  its  isolation.  In  some  Congrega- 
tional churches  also  the  minister  is  made  ex  officio 
moderator  of  all  business  meetings,  and  thus  given 
a  power  to  appoint  committees  ;  in  others  a  stand- 
ing committee  is  created,  through  which  all  busi- 
ness must  pass,  and  from  which  no  appeal  to  the 
church  is  effective,  even  if  it  is  allowed.  As  we 
shall  see  later,  Plymouth  Church  was  determined 
to  maintain  its  independency,  no  matter  what  sac- 
rifice that  independency  might  involve.  It  was 
equally  determined  to  maintain  the  equality  of  all 
its  members.  Its  pastor  was  not  ex  officio  modera- 
tor of  its  business  meetings,  and  in  fact  infre- 
quently presided.  It  is  rare  that  a  pastor  possesses 
as  great  influence  in  his  church  as  Mr.  Beecher 
possessed,  but  he  had  no  ecclesiastical  power  what- 
ever beyond  that  of  the  single  vote  which  he  cast 
in  what  was  a  pure  democracy. 

Theologically,  the  church  was  orthodox.  It 
ado^^ted  a  creed  which  embodied  the  doctrines  of 
the  Fall  of  man,  the  Depravity  of  the  human  race, 
the  Trinity  in  unity  of  the  Godhead,  the  provision 
for  salvation  through  the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  inspiration  and  authority  of  the  Bible,  the 
future  judgment  with  its  final  awards  of  everlast- 
ing punishment  and  eternal  life  ;  in  brief,  its  theo- 
logy was  of  the  New  School  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  of  the  New  England  theology  of  the  orthodox 
Congregational  churches  of  the  middle  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  But  from  the  very  initiation  of  the 
church  its  pastor's  influence  was  steadily  exerted  in 


84  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

favor  of  substituting  spiritual  and  ethical  standards 
for  intellectual  standards  of  character.  The  ques- 
tions asked  in  the  examination  of  candidates  for 
admission  were  practical  rather  than  doctrinal.  In 
the  pulpit,  in  the  prayer-meeting,  and  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  church  the  question,  What  do 
you  believe  ?  was  rarely  heard  ;  the  question.  What 
is  your  life  ?  was,  in  varying  forms,  constantly  reit- 
erated. The  creed  adopted  by  the  church  at  its 
foundation  remains  unchanged  as  the  historic  creed 
of  the  church  ;  but  since  1870  subscription  to  this 
creed  has  no  longer  been  required ;  the  only  con- 
dition of  admission  to  the  church  is  assent  to  and 
acceptance  of  the  following  covenant :  — 

Do  you  now  avouch  the  Lord  Jehovah  to  be  your 
God,  Jesus  Christ  to  be  your  Saviour,  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  be  your  Sanctifier  ?  Renouncing  the  dominion  of  this 
world  over  you,  do  you  consecrate  your  whole  soul  and 
body  to  the  service  of  God  ?  Do  you  receive  his  word 
as  the  rule  of  your  life,  and  by  his  grace  assisting  you, 
will  you  persevere  in  this  consecration  unto  the  end  ? 

If  any  one  thinks  this  covenant  furnishes  too 
open  a  door  for  admission  to  the  Church  of  Christ, 
I  reply  by  saying  that  one  of  the  most  prominent, 
influential,  and  devout  members  of  that  church,  for 
many  years  one  of  its  deacons,  told  me  that  for  a 
year  he  remained  outside  the  church  before  he 
could  decide  that  he  would  pledge  himself  to  con- 
secrate his  "  whole  soul  and  body  to  the  service  of 
God."  Such  a  covenant  as  the  above,  if  it  be  truly 
interpreted  and  earnestly  pressed,  constitutes  a  far 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  85 

stricter  test  of  membersliip  than  can  be  furnished 
by  any  creed,  long  or  short. 

From  the  first  the  church  was  preeminently  a 
social  organization.  Cu-cumstances  conspired  to 
make  it  so.  Its  original  membership  was  corajiosed 
of  households  of  about  equal  social  standing. 
Without  either  the  very  rich  or  the  very  poor, 
Brooklyn,  though  a  city  of  sixty  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, still  retained  village  characteristics,  as  indeed 
to  some  extent  it  does  to  this  day.^  The  new  pas- 
tor therefore  had  not  to  create  but  only  to  foster 
the  social  life  of  the  church.  There  were  at  first 
three  weekly  services :  a  lecture  on  Tuesday  even- 
ing, a  social  gathering  on  Thursday  evening,  and 
a  prayer-meeting  on  Friday  evening.  The  first  two 
were  ere  long  discontinued,  and  the  three  were 
combined  in  the  Friday  evening  meeting,  which 
became  lecture,  social  gathering,  and  prayer- 
meeting.  The  people  were  accustomed,  however, 
to  gather  in  the  lecture-room  in  little  groups  be- 
fore the  hour  of  service,  and  to  remain  for  social 
intercourse  after  the  conclusion  of  the  service.  Not 
infrequently  this  after  social  meeting  was  almost 
as  long  as  the  more  formal  meeting  which  preceded 
it.  But  that  meeting  itself  was  informal.  Mr. 
Beecher  sat  in  his  chair  upon  the  platform  and 
talked  to  the  congregation,  as  a  friend  with  fi-iends. 
The  congregation  caught  the  spiHt  of  informality 

1  Chauncey  Depew  in  an  after-dinner  speech  some  ten  years  ago 
characterized  it  as  the  fourth  largest  city  and  quite  the  largest 
village  in  the  United  States. 


86  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

from  his  spirit ;  and  though  the  size  of  the  meet- 
ing prevented  it  from  ever  becoming  truly  collo- 
quial, and  the  tact  of  the  pastor  prevented  its  ever 
degenerating  into  a  debating-society,  there  was  a 
freedom  in  the  interchange  of  opinions  and  ex- 
periences which  was  sometimes  startling  to  those 
accustomed  to  the  more  staid  methods  of  ordinary 
assemblages  for  worship.  In  the  latter  years  the 
pastor's  talks  were  taken  down  by  a  shorthand 
writer,  and  many  of  them  were  published  in  the 
press,  and  some  of  them  collected  in  book  form  as 
"  Lecture-room  Talks."  To  many  of  his  congrega- 
tion Mr.  Beecher  seemed  at  his  best  in  these  infor- 
mal meetings,  in  which  he  was  less  the  orator  than 
the  personal  counselor  and  friend. 

But  it  was  not  only  at  occasional  meetings  organ- 
ized for  social  intercourse,  nor  at  informal  Friday 
evening  meetings,  that  the  social  life  of  the  church 
was  developed.  The  village  church  which  I  at- 
tended in  my  boyhood  was  on  Sunday  morning  truly 
a  "  meeting-house."  The  farmers  drove  in  from 
miles  about,  fastened  their  horses  in  the  shed,  and 
gossiped  with  one  another  over  the  crops,  while  their 
wives  talked  over  family  concerns  until  the  church 
bell  tolled.  Service  over,  the  social  gossip  was  taken 
up  where  it  had  been  dropped,  and  continued  until, 
little  by  little,  the  congregation  melted  away.  This 
New  England  method  was  unconsciously  adopted  in 
a  modified  form  in  the  Plymouth  Church  services. 
After  the  first  year  the  pewholders  found  it  neces- 
sary to  be  at  church  ten  minutes  before  service 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  87 

began,  to  make  sure  of  their  seats.  They  did  not  sit 
meditatively  during  these  ten  minutes  ;  they  talked 
freely,  in  the  vestibule,  in  the  aisles,  in  the  pews, 
sometimes  going  from  pew  to  pew.  The  buzz  of 
conversation  did  not  stop  when  the  organ  voluntary 
began ;  but  when  the  preacher  rose  in  the  pulpit 
to  offer  the  invocation,  there  was  an  instant  hush. 
I  always  have  thought  that  Mr.  Beecher's  habit  of 
commencing  the  invocation  in  tones  hardly  audible 
was  caused,  not  wholly  by  the  wise  determination 
not  to  imperil  his  voice,  but  also  by  the  purpose 
to  add  impulse  to  the  desire  for  silence  in  order  to 
reverential  participation.  After  the  benediction 
was  a  second  social  gathering ;  friends  and  strang- 
ers streamed  up  to  shake  hands  with  Mr.  Beecher, 
who  remained  near  the  pulpit  for  that  purpose, 
and  who  thus  encouraged  them  to  shake  hands  with 
one  another,  cementing  old  friendships  and  making 
new  acquaintances.  I  am  here  describing  the  habit 
of  Plymouth  Church  neither  to  commend  nor  to 
criticise  it.  It  was  partly  due  to  the  neighborhood 
character  of  the  early  church,  partly  to  the  quasi 
village  life  of  the  commimit}^,  partly  to  the  trans- 
ference to  a  city  of  early  habits  by  the  New  Eng- 
landers  who  made  the  great  proportion  of  the  con- 
gregation, partly  to  the  social  necessities  of  a  new 
and  democratic  organization  in  which  are  so  many 
topics  for  mutual  consideration,  partly  to  the 
preacher's  strong  conviction  that  freedom  of  social 
intercourse  of  man  with  his  fellow  man  is  in  no  wise 
incongruous  with  the  spirit  of  devoutness  in  man 


88  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

toward  his  God.  If  every  preacher  could  by  his 
strong  and  spiritual  personality  transfuse  the  con- 
gregation with  the  spirit  of  devotion  in  the  first 
brief  prayer  of  invocation,  as  Mr.  Beecher  did,  it 
would  be  safe  for  every  congregation  to  maintain 
the  social  prelude  to  religious  service  which  Ply- 
mouth Church  maintained,  —  but  not  otherwise. 

Music  was  from  the  first  a  feature  of  the  wor- 
ship in  Plymouth  Church,  but  it  was  music  fur- 
nished by,  not  to,  the  congregation.  Back  of  the 
pulpit  stood  an  organ  of  considerable  size  and  a 
gallery  which  furnished  accommodation  for  a  con- 
siderable chorus  choir  ;  the  organ  was  subsequently 
replaced  by  what  was,  when  constructed,  I  believe, 
the  largest  church  organ  in  America.  When  John 
Zundel  first  came  to  Plymouth  Church  I  do  not 
know,  but  for  many  years  he  was,  as  its  organist, 
Mr.  Beecher's  spiritual  coadjutor.  Nervous,  irrit- 
able, with  genius,  but,  I  suspect,  without  what  in 
our  time  would  be  regarded  as  adequate  training, 
he  loved  music  as  an  expression  of  the  spiritual 
life.  "  I  cannot,"  he  said,  "  pray  with  my  lips,  I 
pray  with  my  fingers."  His  music  was  profoundly 
devotional.  He  sympathized  heartily  in  what 
was  regarded  in  the  earlier  years  of  Plymouth 
Church  as  one  of  Mr.  Beecher's  oddities,  —  his  pas- 
sionate desire  for  congregational  singing.  Artists 
would  probably  criticise  his  accompaniment  of  the 
congregation,  for  he  often  marked  the  time  with 
strongly  accentuated  pedal  movement,  but  the 
result  was  that  "  dragging  "  was  almost  unknown 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  89 

in  the  congregational  singing  of  Plymouth  Church. 
The  effect  of  a  melody  sung  by  two  thousand  out  of 
the  three  thousand  of  the  congregation  —  and  cer- 
tainly that  proportion  sang  in  Plymouth  Church  — 
might  not  have  been  musical,  but  to  any  one  sensi- 
tive to  human  feeling  it  was  intensely  devotional. 
Here,  again,  allowance  must  be  made  for  differ- 
ences of  temperament.  The  cultivated  musician 
might  well  find  his  devotional  nature  more  ap- 
pealed to  by  the  choral  singing  in  a  great  cathe- 
dral, or  even  by  the  concealed  quartette  in  a 
cathedral-like  church,  but  most  men  are  more  sen- 
sitive to  human  feeling  than  to  musical  chords, 
and  to  such  the  congTCgational  singing  of  Ply- 
mouth Church  would  be  a  greater  expression  and 
inspiration  of  devotional  life. 

This  congregational  singing  did  not,  however, 
spring  spontaneously  into  existence.  I  beheve  the 
scientists  are  generally  agreed  that,  in  biology, 
spontaneous  generation  has  no  place  ;  I  am  sure  it 
has  none  in  social  development.  There  was  neither 
music-book  nor  hymn-book  adapted  to  congrega- 
tional singing  when  Mr.  Beecher  came  to  Brook- 
lyn ;  congregational  singing  was  not  common  in 
practice,  and  those  who  advocated  it  were  looked 
upon  as  impracticable  innovators.  Yet  we  can 
now  see  that  unconsciously  the  Puritan  churches 
had  been  preparing  for  it.  The  habit  of  singing 
sacred  music  in  the  home,  the  singing-schools  and 
the  musical  institutes  common  throughout  New 
England,    the    revival    spirit    caught    from    the 


90  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Methodists  and  naturally  expressing  itself  in  popu- 
lar songs,  and  the  pioneer  musical  work  done  by 
Lowell  Mason  and  his  two  pupils,  George  F.  Koot 
and  George  James  Webb,  had  done  much  to  cre- 
ate a  desire  for  popular  participation  in  church 
music,  though  as  yet  but  little  to  develop  ability 
for  it.  Mr.  Beecher  was  no  musician,  but  he  loved 
music.  He  proposed  to  the  musical  conductor  in 
Plymouth  Church  to  prepare  a  hymn  and  tune- 
book  for  the  use  of  the  congregation  in  church 
services.  '^  Temple  Melodies,"  almost  the  first  book 
of  its  description,  was  the  result.  It  did  not  satisfy 
Mr.  Beecher's  ideal.  Its  success  inspired  him  with 
the  ambition  for  a  larger  undertaking,  and  he  be- 
gan the  preparation  of  "  Plymouth  Collection  " 
with  a  cathoHc  courage  rare  in  any  minister.  He 
laid  all  poetry  under  contribution  ;  not  only  the 
Calvinistic  Watts  and  the  Arminian  Wesley,  but 
also  such  Eoman  Catholic  authors  as  F.  W.  Faber, 
Madame  Guion,  and  Francis  Xavier  ;  such  Unita- 
rians as  Miss  Martineau,  Henry  W.  Longfellow, 
Sarah  Adams,  and  John  Pierpont ;  such  secular 
poets  as  Mrs.  Browning,  William  Cullen  Bryant, 
John  G.  Whittier,  and  James  Russell  Lowell. 
There  is  now  scarcely  a  single  collection  of  any 
value  in  use  in  our  churches  which  does  not  con- 
tain contributions  from  these  sources.  But  though 
their  use  in  1855  was  not  wholly  unprecedented, 
Mr.  Beecher  was  severely  criticised  for  his  bold- 
ness. "  Even  those  who  applauded  him  anticipated 
no  great  results  from  the  innovation."    Said  a  re- 


PLYMOUTH   CHURCH  91 

view  of  "  Plymouth  Collection,"  in  the  "  Brooklyn 
Eagle,"  "  We  do  not  look  for  any  gi'eat  extension 
of  really  congregational  singing  in  the  more  settled 
parts  of  our  country.  Refinement  (it  is  so  called, 
we  believe)  does  not  tend  in  that  direction."  It 
certainly  did  not.  Even  chorus  singing  in  the  city 
churches  was  rare  ;  the  favorite  instrument  for 
church  music  was  the  quartette.  When  "  Plymouth 
Collection  "  was  published  it  is  doubtful  if  there  was 
a  score  of  congregations  in  the  United  States  which 
were  supplied  with  music-books  for  congregational 
use  ;  now  the  use  of  such  books  is  almost  univer- 
sal -  in  the  non-liturgical  churches  in  our  cities, 
towns,  and  larger  villages.  The  musical  develop- 
ment in  England  and  America  which  "  Plymouth 
Collection  "  has  done  something  to  promote  has, 
during  the  last  half  century,  called  into  existence 
a  great  numj)er  of  new  hymns  and  tunes,  and  thus 
left  "  Plymouth  Collection  "  wholly  inadequate  for 
present  church  service.  But  it  was  the  work  of  a 
pioneer,  and  in  estimating  the  relation  of  Mr. 
Beecher  to  the  church  life  of  America,  what  he 
did  to  give  impulse  to  congregational  singing,  by 
showing  its  possibilities  while  as  yet  it  was  only  an 
apparently  impossible  dream  of  the  idealist,  ought 
never  to  be  forgotten. 

In  coming  to  Brooklyn  Mr.  Beecher  brought 
with  him  a  definite  purpose  to  make  Plymouth 
Church  a  spiritual  church.  He  says  :  "I  had  no 
theory ;  but  I  had  a  very  strong  impression  on  my 
mind  that  the  first  five  years  in  the  life  of  a  church 


92  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

would  determine  the  history  of  that  church  and 
give  to  it  its  position  and  genius  ;  that  if  the  ear- 
liest years  of  a  church  were  controversial  or  bar- 
ren it  would  take  scores  of  years  to  right  it ;  but 
that  if  a  church  were  consecrated,  active,  and  ener- 
getic during  the  first  five  years  of  its  life,  it  would 
probably  go  on  through  generations  developing  the 
same  features.  My  supreme  anxiety,  therefore,  in 
gathering  a  church,  was  to  have  all  of  its  members 
united  in  a  fervent,  loving  disposition  ;  to  have 
them  all  in  sympathy  with  men ;  and  to  have  all 
of  them  desirous  of  bringing  to  bear  the  glorious 
truths  of  the  Gospel  upon  the  hearts  and  con- 
sciences of  those  about  them."  From  the  first  and 
with  increasing  power  this  spiritual  atmosphere  was 
prevalent  in  Pl3maouth  Church.  Conversions  were 
frequent,  additions  on  confession  of  faith  numer- 
ous, and  presently,  revivals  of  religion  accompa- 
nied with  great  ingathering  of  members.  The  first 
service  in  the  new  Plymouth  Church  was  held  on 
the  first  Sunday  in  January,  1850.  In  1852  one 
hundred  and  two  were  added  to  the  church  on  con- 
fession of  faith ;  six  years  later  three  hundred  and 
sixty-nine.  These  were  the  fruits  of  definitely 
marked  revivals  of  religion,  accompanied  by  some 
unusual  services ;  but  in  both  cases  the  services 
were  the  product  of  the  revival ;  the  revival  was 
not  the  product  of  the  services. 

The  revival  of  1857-58  was  the  last  of  those 
spiritual  quickenings  produced  by  the  theological 
revolution  which  I  have  described  in  the  first  chap- 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  93 

ter.  It  extended  throughout  the  country ;  my 
impression  is  that  it  was  nowhere  more  fruitful 
in  spiritual  results  than  in  New  York,  and  that  in 
New  York  no  church  gave  greater  evidence  of  its 
practical  power  in  the  spiritual  life  than  Plymouth 
Church.  I  write  of  it  from  personal  recollection, 
dimmed  but  not  effaced  by  the  lapse  of  years. 

One  Sunday  evening  in  the  winter  of  1857,  Mr. 
George  A.  Bell,  an  active  and  devoted  member  of 
Plymouth  Church,  invited  me  to  meet  with  a  few 
other  members  of  the  church  the  next  morning  on 
our  way  to  business  for  an  hour  of  prayer.  The 
morning  brought  a  blocking  snowstorm ;  a  little 
over  a  score  gathered  in  the  lecture-room ;  the 
pastor  was  not  present.  He  was  invited  but  de- 
chned;  disavowed  his  belief  in  manufactured 
revivals ;  appeared  almost  to  discourage  the  meet- 
ings ;  really  threw  the  responsibility  for  beginning 
them  upon  the  laity  of  the  church.  Reluctantly 
they  took  it ;  for  two  or  three  weeks  they  carried 
the  meetings  on,  with  increasing  attendance  and 
interest.  Then  one  Sunday  evening  Mr.  Beecher 
announced  his  intention  to  be  present  and  there- 
after he  invariably  presided.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  a  remarkable  series  of  prayer-meetings, 
continued  until  the  early  summer  of  1857,  and  re- 
sumed again  in  the  winter  of  1858.  Those  who 
attended  those  meetings  will  never  forget  them ; 
"  their  freedom  of  intercourse,  their  social  warmth, 
their  spiritual  tenderness ;  the  commingling  of 
humor  and   pathos,  of   the   intellectual   and   the 


94  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

emotional,  of  the  practical  and  the  spiritual,  in 
a  word  their  Zi/e,  genuine,  free,  untrammeled, 
varied  life,  gave  them  a  character  wholly  inde- 
scribable." 1  Always  at  the  close  those  who  desired 
prayer  for  themselves  or  others  were  asked  to  indi- 
cate their  desire ;  such  requests  were  always  pre- 
sented, and  a  closing  prayer  was  invariably  offered 
by  Mr.  Beecher,  who  grouped  together  these  re- 
quests in  a  supplication,  in  which  none  of  them 
were  forgotten.  After  the  meeting,  which  was  al- 
ways closed  promptly  at  the  end  of  the  hour,  Mr. 
Beecher  remained  to  converse  with  those  who  de- 
sired personal  counsel  for  themselves  or  others. 
He  called  in  assistants,  both  men  and  women,  in 
whose  tact  and  judgment  he  had  confidence,  to  aid 
him  in  this  personal  work,  and  often  to  carry  it  on 
by  visiting  inquirers  in  their  homes. 

In  this  revival  Mr.  Beecher  had  no  help  from 
any  professional  evangelist  and  little  help  from 
any  of  his  brother  ministers.  Every  spiritually 
efficient  minister  was  too  busy  in  his  own  parish 
to  take  much  part  in  the  work  of  other  parishes. 
He  made  no  attempt  to  drive  men  into  the  kingdom 
of  God ;  little  or  none  to  make  them  feel  either  the 
present  evil  or  the  future  peril  of  an  unsaved  con- 
dition ;  the  burden  of  his  preaching  was  a  presen- 
tation of  the  joy  inherent  in  the  Hfe  of  faith,  hope, 
and  love.    "  I  have  sat  in  my  own  pulpit,"  he  once 

1  Henry  Ward  Beecher:  A  Sketch  of  His  Career,  by  Lyman 
Abbott,  assisted  by  Rev.  S.  B.  Halliday.  American  Publishing 
Company. 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  95 

said  to  me,  "  and  seen  Finney  get  the  sinner  down 
and  pound  him  until  I  have  wanted  to  pull  Finney 
by  the  coat  and  cry  out,  O  let  him  up,  let  him  up." 
Dr.  Finney  drove  men  to  repentance  ;  Mr.  Beecher 
drew  them.  The  themes  of  his  revival  preaching 
might  almost  be  summed  up  in  the  saying  of 
Hosea :  "I  drew  them  with  bands  of  love."  One 
evening  he  read  a  letter  from  an  unknown  young 
man,  unknown  I  think  to  him,  certainly  to  the 
congregation,  saying  that  he  was  going  to  destruc- 
tion under  temptations  which  he  could  neither  re- 
sist nor  escape,  and  imploring  Mr.  Beecher  "to 
preach  to  me  the  terror  of  the  law,  anything  to 
arouse  me  from  this  fearful  lethargy."  With  this 
as  his  text  Mr.  Beecher  preached  the  love  of  God 
in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  remedy  for  sin,  saying, 
"  If  this  love  of  God  will  not  move  you,  the  fear  of 
God  will  not."  The  incident  was  characteristic. 
Mr.  Beecher  believed  in  retribution  —  at  that 
time  more  definitely  than  he  did  subsequently. 
But  he  rarely  preached  it,  and  when  he  did  so,  it 
was  only  as  a  dark  backgroimd,  that  he  might 
make  the  love  of  God  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ 
more  Imninous.  The  most  definite  declaration  of 
his  faith  in  this  subject  at  this  time  is  found  in 
the  following  paragraph  in  his  sermon  on  "  The 
Gentleness  of  God  :  "  — 

Sometimes,  in  dark  caves,  men  have  gone  to  the  edge 
of  unspeaking  precipices,  and,  wondering  what  was  the 
depth,  have  cast  down  fragments  of  rock,  and  listened 
for  the  report  of  their  fall,  that  they  might  judge  how 


96  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

deep  that  blackness  was  ;  and  listening  —  still  listening 
—  no  sound  returns  ;  no  sullen  plash,  no  clinking  stroke 
as  of  rock  against  rock  —  nothing  but  silence,  utter  si- 
lence !  And  so  I  stand  upon  the  precipice  of  life.  I 
sound  the  depths  of  the  other  world  with  curious  in- 
quiries. But  from  it  comes  no  echo  and  no  answer  to 
my  questions.  No  analogies  can  grapple  and  bring  up 
from  the  depths  of  the  darkness  of  the  lost  world  the 
probable  truths.  No  philosophy  has  line  and  plummet 
long  enough  to  sound  the  depths.  There  remains  for  us 
only  the  few  authoritative  and  solemn  words  of  God. 
These  declare  that  the  bliss  of  the  righteous  is  everlast- 
ing ;  and  with  equal  directness  and  simplicity  they  de- 
clare that  the  doom  of  the  wicked  is  everlasting. 

And  therefore  it  is  that  I  make  haste,  with  an  incon- 
ceivable ardor,  to  persuade  you  to  be  reconciled  to  your 
God.  I  hold  up  before  you  that  God  who  loves  the  sin- 
ner and  abhors  the  sin  ;  who  loves  goodness  with  infinite 
fervor,  and  breathes  it  upon  those  who  put  their  trust 
in  him  ;  who  makes  all  the  elements  his  ministering  ser- 
vants;  who  sends  years,  and  weeks,  and  days,  and 
hours,  all  radiant  with  benefaction,  and,  if  we  would 
but  hear  their  voice,  all  pleading  the  goodness  of  God 
as  an  argument  of  repentance  and  of  obedience.  And 
remember  that  it  is  this  God  who  yet  declares  that  he 
will  at  last  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty !  Make  your 
peace  with  him  now,  or  abandon  all  hopes  of  peace.^ 

With  this  persuasive,  attracting,  enticing  char- 
acteristic of  his  revival  preaching  was  another,  — 
its  extreme  simplicity.  It  was  without  technical 
theological  terminology ;  it  was  without  metaphy- 
sical refinements  ;  it  presented  the  religious  life  as 
preeminently  natural,  the  sacrifice  it  required  was 

^  Sermons,  Harper  &  Brothers'  edition,  vol.  i.  p.  109. 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  97 

a  "  reasonable  sacrifice."  Of  this  characteristic  a 
notable  illustration  is  afforded  by  an  address  de- 
livered in  March,  1858,  in  Burton's  old  theatre  on 
Chambers  Street,  on  "How  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian." It  was  delivered  at  a  week-day  meeting; 
the  theatre  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity ;  I 
had  difficulty  in  getting  in.  The  interested  reader 
will  find  it  reported  in  the  "  New  Star  Papers."  I 
can  here  only  quote  a  few  typical  sentences  ;  any 
condensation  would  fail  to  interpret  its  spirit :  — 

I  do  not  think  that  there  is  a  man  in  this  congrega- 
tion that  is  not  abundantly  qualified  to-day,  before  the 
sun  goes  down,  to  become  a  true  Christian  in  the  spiritual 
and  experimental  sense  of  the  term. 

A  man  who  knows  enough  to  take  care  of  his  busi- 
ness, to  live  obediently  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  to  live 
in  the  affection  of  the  family,  knows  enough  to  begin  a 
Christian  life. 

It  is  not  needful  that  you  have  a  great  deal  of  f eehng. 
.  .  .  The  less  feeling  there  is  required  to  effect  a  moral 
revolution,  the  better. 

Do  you  desire  the  love  of  God?  Do  you  desire  it 
more  than  you  do  your  pleasure,  more  than  ambition, 
more  than  selfish  indulgence  ?  .  .  .  Why  do  you  not 
take  three  minutes  of  this  sovereign  power  of  choice  to 
become  a  Christian  ? 

I  care  for  you ;  not  out  of  my  own  nature,  but  be- 
cause the  spirit  of  my  Master  makes  me  thus  care  for 
your  soul.  He  sent  me  to  tell  you  that  He  —  glorious 
as  He  is  —  that  He  cares  for  you  ten  thousand  times 
more  than  I  do. 

Such  preaching  as  this  was  not  calculated  to 


98  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

produce  excitement.  The  emotionalism,  developing 
occasionally  into  hysteria,  which  has  too  often  ac- 
companied revivals  of  religion,  and  which  some 
readers  erroneously  imagine  to  be  characteristic  of 
all  revivals  of  religion,  was  noticeably  absent  from 
the  experience  of  Plymouth  Church.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  it  was  never  seen  there,  in  either 
Sunday  service  or  weekly  prayer-meeting.  Feeling 
there  was,  often  deep  feeling  ;  but  always  natural, 
moral,  rational.  "  The  less  feeling  there  is  re- 
quired to  effect  a  moral  revolution,  the  better," 
interprets  all  Mr.  Beecher's  spiritual  endeavor. 
The  sermons  were  expository,  not  hortatory,  though 
expository  rather  of  spiritual  experience  than  of 
either  the  letter  of  Scripture  or  the  doctrine  of 
theology.  The  prayer-meetings  were  simple,  collo- 
quial, unconventional.  The  spiritual  activity  of 
both  pastor  and  people  was  unmarked  by  efforts 
either  to  coerce  or  cajole  attendants  into  uniting 
with  the  church ;  it  was  characterized,  on  the  con- 
trary, with  distinct  efforts  to  caution,  especially 
the  young,  from  too  sudden  action  springing  from 
momentary  impulse.  At  the  end  of  ten  years, 
partly  as  the  result  of  these  revivals,  the  church 
had  grown  in  membership  from  twenty-one  to 
twelve  hundred  and  forty-one.  Anticipating  here 
for  a  moment  future  history,  it  is  legitimate  to  add 
that  at  the  semi-centennial  of  Plymouth  Church, 
celebrated  in  1897,  it  was  reported  that  thirty- 
six  hundred  and  thirty-three  persons  had  come 
into  the  kingdom  of  God  through  the  doors  of  the 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  99 

church,  an  average  of  little  over  seventy-two  each 
year,  for  the  most  part,  without  special  measures 
or  meetings  of  any  kind.  Humanly  speaking,  these 
results  were  due  primarily  to  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  power  of  the  pastor.  To  some  account  of 
him  and  his  methods,  as  I  personally  knew  both  at 
this  epoch  in  his  ministry,  the  next  chapter  will  / 
be  devoted. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PASTOR   OF   PLYMOUTH   CHURCH 

It  was  seven  years  after  the  organization  of  Ply- 
mouth Church  that  I  first  began  to  attend  it,  and 
I  here  speak  of  Mr.  Beecher  as  I  knew  him  then, 
but  I  judge  that  no  great  change  had  been  made 
either  in  his  person,  his  habits,  or  his  preaching 
in  those  seven  years,  save  that  perhaps  his  powers 
had  improved  a  little,  certain  roughness  due  to  his 
Western  experiences  had  been  rubbed  off  by  attri- 
tion with  the  East,  and  the  too  exuberant  rhetoric 
of  his  earliest  ministry  was  mastered  and  pruned. 
In  person  he  was  slightly  under  si:^  feet ;  power- 
fully built ;  not  corpulent,  but  stocky.  His  gen- 
eral appearance  suggested  great  physical  strength. 
Mr.  Fowler,  the  phrenologist,  said  of  him  that  he 
was  a  "  splendid  animal,"  and  no  one  looking  on 
his  magnificent  physique  could  doubt  the  fact.  He 
had  a  great  brain  ;  a  great  forehead,  bearing  wit- 
ness to  his  intellect ;  a  domed  crown  bearing 
witness  to  his  reverence  and  his  benevolence  ;  a 
broad  back  of  the  head,  bearing  witness  to  the 
strength  and  force  of  his  will ;  and  heavy  eye- 
brows, indicating  power  of  observation.  He  had 
a  good  digestion  and  an  excellent  nervous  system. 
Shortly  before  his  death,  in  answer  to  some  one 


THE   PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    101 

who  asked  him  if  he  was  going  to  Europe  for  his 
health,  he  replied,  "  I  already  have  more  health 
than  I  know  what  to  do  with."  Vigor  of  health 
was  characteristic  of  him  throughout  his  life.  No 
doubt  nature  had  endowed  him  with  a  fine  phy- 
sique, but  he  cooperated  with  nature  and  took  ex- 
cellent and  intelligent  care  of  his  body.  He  used 
neither  tobacco  nor  alcohol,  until  the  latter  years 
of  his  life,  when  he  made  occasional  and  rare  use  of 
the  lighter  forms  of  the  latter.  He  did  not  use  tea 
or  coffee  in  excess,  and  in  his  diet  was  never  self- 
indulgent.  He  had  studied  the  relation  of  differ- 
ent foods  to  different  physiological  conditions,  and 
adapted  his  own  diet  intelligently  to  his  own  needs  ; 
eating,  for  instance,  little  beef,  because  it  made 
blood,  and  he  was  too  full-blooded  by  nature.  He 
was  an  early  riser,  and  usually  finished  his  work 
in  the  study  in  time  to  allow  some  out-of-door 
exercise  or  excursion  before  a  two-o'clock  dinner. 
The  afternoon  was  given  to  rest;  part  of  it  to 
sleep,  part  of  it  to  social  calling  or  out-of-door  em- 
ployment. After  a  light  supper  he  entered  on  the 
work  of  the  evening,  which  was  almost  invariably 
given  up  to  some  public  engagement.  He  was  al- 
ways a  sound  sleeper,  and  had  the  gift,  somewhat 
rare  I  think,  of  throwing  off  cares  and  anxieties, 
whether  they  belonged  to  him  or  others,  when  he 
believed  that  further  carrying  them  would  do  no 
good  to  him  or  to  them.  He  early  adopted  the 
principle  that  it  is  better  to  rest  before  one's  work 
as  a  preparation  for  it,  than  after  one's  work  as  a 


102  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

recuperation  from  it.  Saturday,  therefore,  was  al- 
ways given  to  rest ;  for  he  believed  that  the  sab- 
bath commandment  was  as  applicable  to  ministers 
as  to  laymen,  and,  with  rare  exceptions,  he  did  his 
work  six  days  in  the  week,  and  rested  on  the  sev- 
enth.   But  Saturday,  not  Sunday,  was  his  rest-day. 

Whatever  he  may  have  been  before,  after  I 
knew  him  he  was  not,  in  any  ordinary  sense  of  the 
term,  a  pastor.  The  work  of  a  pastor  is  twofold  : 
to  organize  his  church  as  a  captain  of  its  spiritual 
industries,  and  to  visit  from  house  to  house,  doing 
personally  in  the  household  work  somewhat  ana- 
logous to  that  done  by  the  Catholic  priest  in  the 
confessional.    Mr.  Beecher  did  neither. 

He  did  not  organize  his  church.  He  inspired 
those  who  gathered  about  him  with  generous  aspi- 
rations, pointed  out  to  them  work  to  be  done,  in- 
cited them  to  do  it,  but  left  them  to  do  it  in  their 
own  way.  Even  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  it 
might  be  said  that  Plymouth  Church  was  rather  a 
body  of  workers  than  a  working  body.  Many,  if 
not  most  churches,  are  over-organized  ;  the  machin- 
ery is  too  great  for  the  steam  generated  to  operate 
it.  Plymouth  Church  was  under-organized ;  the 
steam  generated  by  the  Friday  evening  meeting 
and  the  Sunday  morning  service  was  greater  than 
the  organism  afforded  scope  for.  There  were  or- 
ganizations and  very  effective  ones  in  connection 
with  Plymouth  Church,  but  they  were  independent 
of  any  one  central  control ;  and  while  their  effi- 
ciency was  due  to  the  energizing   power  of   Mr. 


THE   PASTOR  OF   PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    103 

Beecher,  their  form  and  framework  were  due  to 
tlie  organizing  capacity  of  others. 

Nor  did  Mr.  Beecher,  to  any  considerable  ex- 
tent, do  pastoral  work  from  house  to  house.  He 
did  little  visiting,  except  of  a  restful  sort,  in  the 
houses  of  intimate  friends.  He  was  not  often  to 
be  seen  at  the  bed  of  the  sick,  or  even  of  the 
dying;  he  was  not  always  to  be  had  for  either 
the  funerals  or  the  weddings  incident  to  his  gi-eat 
parish.  When  the  necessity  for  this  work  became 
apparent,  and  it  also  became  apparent  that  the  one 
man  could  not  do  the  preaching  and  public  speak- 
ing in  which  Mr.  Beecher  was  engaged,  and  also 
the  personal,  pastoral,  house-to-house  visiting,  a 
pastor's  assistant  was  secured,  and  on  the  Rev. 
S.  B.  Halliday,  for  years  Mr.  Beecher's  faithful 
coadjutor,  this  form  of  personal  work  devolved,  and 
by  him  it  was  done  with  admirable  fidelity.  Never- 
theless, Mr.  Beecher  did  do,  in  his  own  way,  a 
personal  work  much  greater  and  more  influential, 
I  am  inclined  to  think,  than  the  average  of  even 
notably  efficient  pastors.  For  sometimes  half  an 
hour  after  the  Friday  evening  prayer-meeting  he 
held  what  I  may  call  a  religious  reception.  He  sat 
on  or  near  the  platform,  to  talk  with  old  friends 
or  meet  with  new  acquaintances ;  he  shook  hands 
with  any  one  that  offered  him  a  hand;  an  old 
friend  returning  after  a  long  absence  was  instantly 
recognized  and  greeted  with  the  warm  cordiality  of 
the  love  that  is  without  dissimulation ;  if  any  one 
wished  to  see  him  privately,  he  sat  down  in  the 


104  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

pew  beside  the  seeker,  heard  his  experience,  di- 
vined his  need  before  the  narrative  was  half  fin- 
ished, and  went  to  the  heart  of  the  matter  in  a 
quick  sympathetic  or  pungent  sentence  ;  if  further 
help  was  needed,  he  referred  the  petitioner  to  some 
wise  counselor,  or  made  with  him  an  appointment 
for  some  further  and  fuller  interview.  He  ex- 
pressed to  me  once  his  admiration  for  the  tact, 
skill,  and  forcefulness  of  Dr.  Nettleton's  personal 
work  of  this  description.  I  fancy  that  he  had 
studied  Dr.  Nettleton's  methods,  and  to  good  ad- 
vantage. 

But  it  was  as  an  orator,  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the 
platform,  in  church,  lecture-hall,  and  public  assem- 
bly, that  Mr.  Beecher  exercised  his  principal  influ- 
ence on  the  nation,  and  on  his  own  church.  By 
oratory  I  mean  the  art  of  influencing  masses  of 
men  by  spoken  address.  Any  man  who  possesses 
this  art,  and  actually  does  so  influence  men,  I  call 
an  orator,  whatever  his  elocutionary  or  rhetorical 
gifts,  whatever  the  methods  which  he  employs.  In 
fact,  Mr.  Beecher  had  remarkable  elocutionary  and 
rhetorical  gifts.  He  gave  me  once  an  account  of 
the  methods  which  he  pursued  in  his  boyhood, 
when  under  a  skilled  elocutionist,  he  spent  some- 
times an  hour  at  a  time  simply  practicing  the  use 
of  the  vowel  o,  with  its  varied  intonations,  or  took 
a  posture  at  a  chalk-mark  on  the  floor  and  went 
through  varied  gestures,  exercising  each  movement 
of  the  arm  under  his  instructor's  direction,  as  he 
was  told  how  far  the  arm  should  come  forward, 


THE   PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH   CHURCH    105 

where  it  should  start  from,  how  far  go  back,  and 
under  what  circumstances  these  movements  should 
be  made.  Whatever  stiffness  and  artificiality  such 
drill  might  have  at  first  produced  had  entirely  disap- 
peared by  the  time  Mr.  Beecher  came  to  Brooklyn  ; 
for  the  effects  of  this  driU  made  ease,  flexibility,  and 
variety  of  voice  and  movement  a  second  nature  to 
him.  His  voice,  his  arms,  his  whole  body,  and  in 
some  sense  preeminently  his  face,  were  the  quick 
and  potent  servants  of  his  alert  mind.  Training  had 
given  his  voice  great  carrying  power.  His  contem- 
porary and  fi'iend,  Dr.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  once 
said  to  me  that  the  secret  of  vocal  power  without 
vocal  weariness  is  knowing  how  to  use  the  bel- 
lows. Mr.  Beecher  knew  how  to  use  the  beUows. 
He  never  strained  his  throat  in  vehemence  of 
speech ;  the  throat  was  simply  used  to  determine 
the  quality  of  the  tone ;  the  forcefulness  of  it  was 
given  by  the  abdominal  muscles.  The  reading  of 
the  Scripture  lesson  in  too  many  Congregational 
churches  is  a  piece  of  perfunctory  ritualism.  It 
was  a  lesson  in  elocution  to  hear  Mr.  Beecher  read 
a  Scripture  lesson.  You  might  not  agree  with  his 
interpretation,  but  you  could  not  misunderstand  it. 
I  recall  once  hearing  him,  in  a  sermon  on  the  gen- 
tleness of  Christ,  pause  and  say :  "  But  did  not 
Christ  denounce  the  Pharisees  with  bitterest  invec- 
tive ?  That  depends  upon  the  spirit  with  which  He 
uttered  and  with  which  we  read  His  words."  Then 
he  took  up  the  New  Testament,  turned  to  the 
twenty-third  chapter  of  Matthew  and  read  three  or 


106  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

four  verses  —  "  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, hypocrites "  —  with  thunder  in  the  tones, 
frown  upon  the  brow,  wrath  in  the  voice ;  then, 
without  note  or  comment,  he  read  them  again  as  a 
lamentation,  with  infinite  pathos,  with  suppressed 
tears  in  the  tones  of  his  voice.  Then  he  closed  the 
New  Testament  and  went  on  with  his  sermon. 

With  this  remarkable  elocutionary  power  was  a 
sympathetic  imagination  that  made  him,  for  the 
moment,  enter  into  and  participate  in  every  ex- 
perience which  he  described.  Coupled  with  a  keen 
and  quick  observation  of  things,  his  imagination 
made  him  a  graphic  painter  of  scenes,  which  were 
portrayed  with  a  vividness  such  as  made  them  for 
the  moment  present  to  the  audience.  Coupled 
with  a  sympathetic  insight,  his  imagination  made 
him  a  dramatic  portrayer  of  characters,  who  were 
introduced  upon  the  platform  as  though  they  for 
the  moment  were  addressing  the  audience.  Coupled 
with  his  devout  spirit,  his  unagination  enabled  him 
to  realize  himself  and  make  his  congregation  realize 
the  presence  of  the  living  God,  as  really  known 
through  transcending  knowledge.  Thus  variously 
working,  his  imagination  made  him  at  once  the 
most  graphic,  the  most  dramatic,  and  the  most 
devout  of  orators.  Whether  in  his  pulpit  or  his 
parlor,  he  enacted  with  his  voice,  gesture,  and  facial 
expression  the  incidents  he  narrated.  His  face  had 
not  less  flexibility  than  his  voice,  nor  was  it  less 
obedient  to  his  instant  and  unconscious  volition. 
It  was  this  dramatic  quality  which  made  men  say 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    107 

of  him  sometimes  that  he  was  a  great  actor.  That 
he  could  have  made  a  great  actor,  in  the  pro- 
fessional sense  of  the  term,  I  do  not  believe ;  he 
could  not  have  coerced  himself  into  playing  a  part ; 
moral  enthusiasm  was  necessary  to  create  the  con- 
ditions under  which  face  and  voice  and  gesture 
would  serve  his  purpose. 

His  rhetoric,  no  less  than  his  elocution,  was  al- 
ways subordinate  to  moral  ends.  Both  were  instru-  / 
ments  which  he  had  come  by  ten  years  of  practical 
use,  unconsciously  for  the  purpose  of  moving  the 
audience  he  was  addressing.  I  do  not  think,  after 
he  came  to  Brooklyn,  he  ever  preached  sermons 
analogous  to  those  "  Lectures  to  Young  Men  "  de- 
livered in  Indianapolis,  to  which  I  have  referred  in 
a  previous  chapter.  His  descriptive  powers  became 
subordinated  to  his  philosophical  thought.  It  might 
be  too  much  to  say  that  he  was  rhetorical  and  im- 
aginative rather  than  thoughtful  in  Indianapolis  ; 
but  it  is  certain  that  he  was  thoughtful  rather  than 
imaginative  and  rhetorical  in  Brooklyn.  It  was 
because  his  rhetorical  forms  were  thus  instrumen- 
tal that  he  almost  never  verbally  repeated  himself. 
He  acted  on  the  aphoristic  advice  which  Professor 
Edwards  A.  Park  is  said  to  have  given  his  students  : 
"  There  is  no  objection  to  preaching  an  old  sermon 
if  it  is  born  again."  Mr.  Beecher  had  favorite  and 
familiar  lines  of  thought  and  he  repeated  them 
again  and  again.  But  he  had  no  old  sermons.  I 
do  not  recall  that  he  ever  repeated  a  sermon  "  by 
request."    I  do  not  think  he  could  have  done  so  if 


108  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

he  had  tried ;  any  more  than  he  could  have  re- 
peated a  conversation.  In  a  sense,  every  sermon, 
every  address  was  a  conversation  with  his  audience. 
In  the  phrasing  of  it  always,  in  the  figures  employed 
often,  in  the  anatomical  structure  of  it  sometimes, 
the  audience  took  an  unconscious  part.  It  was  this 
conversational  attitude  in  which  Mr.  Beecher  stood 
to  his  audiences,  and  as  a  result  of  which  he  re- 
ceived from  them  impressions  while  he  was  impress- 
ing himself  upon  them,  that  made  his  sermons 
always  fresh ;  this  also  partly  accounted  for  the 
great  variableness  of  his  power.  That  power  de- 
pended partly  on  his  own  mood,  but  also  partly  on 
the  mood  of  his  audience. 

His  interest  was  in  men,  not  in  theories ;  in 
life,  not  in  philosophy.  He  saw  everything  in  the 
concrete,  and  his  generahzations  were,  therefore, 
always  interpreted  in  concrete  forms.  His  illustra- 
tions were  not  ornaments  attached  to  his  discourse, 
like  fringe  upon  a  garment ;  they  were  woven  into 
it,  a  part  of  its  web  and  woof,  so  that,  in  general,  it 
was  impossible  to  remember  the  illustration  with- 
out remembering  the  truth  which  it  illustrated. 
At  the  same  time  he  dealt  not  with  isolated  facts 
but  with  broad  principles.  From  the  particulars 
he  evolved  the  general  truth,  then  returned  to  the 
particulars  to  illustrate  and  enforce  it.  Although 
his  method  changed  somewhat  afterward,  his  ser- 
mons at  this  time  generally  revolved,  each  one 
about  one  central  principle,  so  that  the  congrega- 
tion went  away,  not  dazzled  by  pyrotechnics,  not  to 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    109 

discuss  the  orator  and  his  methods,  but  impressed 
by  some  vital  principle  which  elocution,  oratory, 
rhetoric,  argimient  had  combined  to  enforce. 

Whatever  interested  men,  interested  him.  He 
was  thus  an  instinctive  student  of  human  affairs ; 
knew  about  trades,  industries,  domestic  concerns, 
the  affairs  of  the  kitchen,  the  street,  the  shop; 
and  they  all  came  into  his  discourses,  not  only  to 
illuminate  his  thought,  but  also  to  make  connec- 
tion with  the  men  and  women  before  him  whose 
lives  were  in  these  various  spheres.  It  was  inter- 
esting to  sit,  as  at  one  time  I  did,  in  the  choir-gal- 
lery,  looking  upon  the  great  congregation,  and  see 
how  different  references  to  different  phases  of  life 
would  catch  and  compel  the  attention  of  different 
hearers.  He  woidd  capture  a  merchant  with  an 
illustration  from  the  stock  exchange,  an  artist  with 
a  reference  to  a  picture,  a  mother  with  a  reference 
to  a  garden  or  to  children,  a  musician  with  a 
reference  to  a  symphony  or  an  oratorio,  and  they 
all  would  bear  upon  the  one  central  truth  which 
he  determined  not  merely  to  make  clear  to  the 
minds  but  to  make  potent  in  the  lives  of  his  hearers. 

It  has  been  sometimes  said  that  Mr.  Beecher  was 
not  a  scholar.  Whether  he  was  or  no  I  will  not 
imdertake  to  say,  for  the  term  scholar  connotes 
different  ideas  to  different  minds;  I  wiU  simply 
describe  him  as  he  was.  He  made  no  direct  use  of 
the  Hebrew,  and  if  he  had  ever  Imo^Ti  the  lan- 
guage, had,  I  am  sure,  forgotten  it.  If  he  wanted 
exegetical  information  on  a  passage   of   the  Old 


no  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Testament,  he  went  to  his  brother  Dr.  Edward 
Beecher,  or  to  his  friend  Dr.  Thomas  J.  Conant, 
both  of  whom  were  expert  Hebraists.  He  was  fa- 
miliar with  the  Greek,  and  in  his  New  Testament 
studies  made  constant  use  of  it.  When  I  decided 
to  go  into  the  ministry  I  sought  his  advice  as  to  the 
best  books  for  my  library  ;  he  said,  "  Buy  Alford's 
Greek  Testament,  whatever  you  do."  It  took  all 
the  little  money  I  had,  but  I  was  very  glad  after- 
wards I  had  made  the  expenditure.  In  his  time 
this  certainly  was,  if  it  is  not  still,  the  best  critical 
apparatus  for  the  study  of  the  Greek  New  Testa- 
ment. During  his  anti-slavery  campaigns  he  not 
only  had  in  his  library  "  Curtis  on  the  Constitu- 
tion "  and  "  Kent's  Commentaries  on  Law,"  but  he 
carefully  studied  them.  No  one  would  claim  for 
him  that  he  was  a  constitutional  lawyer,  but  he 
had  his  own  well-considered  opinions,  formed  after 
careful  study,  on  the  great  constitutional  questions 
involved  in  the  anti-slavery  controversy.  He  was 
familiar  with  the  best  books  of  his  time  on  phy- 
siology, was  a  behever  in  the  principles  of  phreno- 
logy, which  he  acquired  at  their  fountain  head,  the 
works  of  Gaul  and  Spurzheim,  and  he  made  habit- 
ual use  of  the  phrenological  nomenclature  in  his 
analyses  of  human  life.  He  was  familiar  with  cer- 
tain of  the  great  classics,  though  that  familiarity 
rarely  appeared  in  his  addresses,  partly  because  he 
was  not  given  to  quotation,  partly  because  he  had 
no  verbal  memory,  and  could  not  quote  without 
breaking  in  upon  the  current  of  his  discourse  to 


THE  PASTOR   OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    111 

read  the  quotation.  He  read  and  re-read  such  writ- 
ers as  Homer,  Dante,  Milton,  Thackeray,  Scott, 
—  the  first  two  in  translations.  He  not  only  read, 
he  studied  them.  The  best  discrimination  between 
Dante  and  Milton  I  have  ever  heard  or  seen  I 
heard  from  his  lips  in  private  conversation.  He  was 
famihar,  too,  with  the  latest  contributions  of  mod- 
ern thinkers  on  subjects  co-related  to  his  themes  — 
Herbert  Spencer,  John  Tyndal,  Thomas  H.  Huxley, 
Matthew  Arnold,  and  I  beheve  was  instrumental 
in  securing  the  republication  of  their  works  in  this 
country,  and  so  introducing  them  to  American 
readers.  Rarely  was  I  at  his  house,  unless  for  the 
briefest  errand,  that  he  did  not  call  my  attention 
to  some  noteworthy  book,  or  some  specially  valu- 
able article  in  a  late  review,  English  or  American. 
This  familiarity  with  current  literature  was  partly 
due  to  his  habit  of  mousing  among  the  book-stores 
and  in  tlie  libraries,  and  getting  information  as  to 
the  things  most  worth  knowing  from  others  whose 
business  it  was  to  know  the  whole  field  of  literature 
and  philosophy.  When  he  went  on  a  lecture  tour 
he  carried  with  him  a  black  bag  ;  I  suppose  at 
some  time  it  must  have  been  new.  In  that  black 
bag  was  a  small  library.  It  usually  contained  a 
book  of  poetry,  one  of  philosophy,  one  of  history, 
one  of  fiction.  Pursuing  synchronously  courses  of 
poetry,  history,  philosophy,  and  fiction,  he  took  up 
his  course  in  either  one  according  to  the  mood  of 
the  hour.  He  called  himself  a  slow  reader ;  I  rather 
think  he  was,  for  he  read  not  primarily  to  acquire 


Ii2  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

information  but  to  stimulate  thought.  He  chose 
books  of  power,  and  when  the  thought  was  stimu- 
lated, closed  the  book,  and  followed  the  clue  which 
it  had  put  into  his  hand ;  yet  he  acquired  the  habit 
of  quickly  ascertaining  what  a  book  had  for  him, 
would  turn  with  a  kind  of  unerring  instinct  to  that 
portion  and  pass  by  the  rest.  "  I  never  read  a  book 
through,"  he  said  to  me  once ;  "  a  book  is  like  a 
fish :  you  cut  off  the  head,  you  cut  off  the  tail,  you 
cut  off  the  fins,  you  take  out  the  backbone,  and 
there  is  a  little  piece  of  meat  left."  I  called  on  him 
once  at  his  dinner  hour  to  obtain  his  opinion  on  a 
treatise  on  phrenology.  At  the  end  of  the  first 
course  he  left  the  table  and  sat  down  by  the  win- 
dow, took  the  pages,  and  ran  over  them,  much  in 
this  way :  "  Yes  !  no  !  that  is  not  true."  "  Ah ! 
that  is  old."  "Yes,  that  is  so."  "Well,  I  don't 
know  about  that."  In  fifteen  minutes  he  had  gone 
through  the  volume  and  knew  it  better  than  I  did 
after  an  hour  or  two  of  examination.  I  believe  he 
read  Fronde's  "  History  of  England  "  between  the 
dinner  courses.  Such  reading  is  an  unsocial  habit 
not  to  be  recommended,  but  it  is  one  which  cer- 
tainly would  not  be  fallen  into  by  a  man  who  was 
"  no  student." 

But  a  book  is  only  the  reflection  of  a  man ;  it 
only  tells  what  a  man  has  thought  about  some- 
thing. Mr.  Beecher  got  directly  from  men  much 
which  most  students  get  indirectly  through  printed 
pages.  He  was  preeminently  a  student  of  nature, 
man,  and  the  Bible. 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    113 

In  nature  he  saw  a  hieroglyphic  language  and 
read  the  lesson  which  it  had  for  him.  Whether  he 
was  familiar  with  the  writings  of  Wordsworth  I 
do  not  know ;  but  no  man  I  have  ever  known  pos- 
sessed a  mind  so  much  in  this  respect  like  that  of 
Wordsworth  as  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  He  says 
in  one  of  his  lecture-room  talks,  "  Have  you  ever, 
as  a  part  of  your  obedience  to  Christ,  taken  time 
to  sit  down  and  think  what  birds  and  flowers 
mean?  You  have  taken  flowers  and  you  have  en- 
joyed them  —  their  forms,  their  colors,  their  odors 
—  simply  as  objects  which  had  a  relation  to  a  cer- 
tain sense  of  beauty  in  yourself.  That  is  very  well, 
although  it  is  the  merest  superficial  treatment  of 
that  profound  subject,  and  does  not  fulfill  the  com- 
mand of  God.  The  command  of  prayer,  of  meek- 
ness, of  humility  may  rank  higher  in  the  moral 
scale,  but  they  are  not  one  whit  more  commands 
than  is  this  passage  a  command  in  relation  to  birds 
and  flowers,  and  they  do  not  address  you  one  whit 
more  than  this  does.  Consider.  It  is  not  smelly  it 
is  not  admire^  it  is  not  enjoy ^  it  is  not  even  looh 
at ;  it  is  consider.  And  to  consider  is  to  ponder  ; 
it  is  to  take  a  thing  up  into  your  mind  and  turn  it 
over  and  over  that  you  may  know  what  it  means." 
In  these  words  he  describes  his  own  habits.  He 
considered^  that  is,  pondered  much.  If  he  read 
books  less  than  most  ministers,  he  thought  more 
about  what  he  read  than  most  ministers  think.  If 
he  ate  less,  he  digested  more,  and  it  is  what  we 
digest,  not  what  we  eat,  that  makes  us  strong. 


114  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

He  carried  the  same  spirit  into  his  study  of 
men.  He  did  not  visit  much  from  house  to  house, 
nor,  so  far  as  I  know,  did  he  ever  belong  to  a 
chib ;  clubs  were  not  as  common  then  as  now. 
But  he  made  himself  a  welcome  guest  in  the  shop, 
the  office,  the  factory.  He  did  not  confine  his  fel- 
lowship to  any  class  or  circle  in  society.  He  says 
somewhere,  "  There  is  no  man  that  is  not  wiser 
than  I  am  on  some  subjects ;  I  can  get  something 
from  everybody."  In  another  place  he  says, 
"  There  is  not  a  deck-hand  on  the  ferry-boats,  nor 
a  man  at  Fulton  Ferry  whom  I  do  not  know,  and 
who  has  not  helped  me."  This  was  the  secret  of 
his  interest  in  all  manner  of  things.  While  he 
was  getting  information  from  men  he  was  getting 
insight  into  men.  In  his  Yale  lectures  to  young 
men  he  tells  them  how  in  his  pastoral  intercourse 
he  adjusts  his  ministry  to  the  character  of  the  man, 
as  their  character  is  interpreted  to  him  by  the 
structure  and  organism  of  the  individual  before 
him.  Despite  this  constant  intuitive  study,  he  was 
easily  cheated.  There  is  a  profound  truth  in  the 
epigram  attributed  to  Edward  Eggleston  —  "I 
never  knew  a  person  who  knew  man  so  well  and 
men  so  ill  as  Henry  Ward  Beecher."  He  studied 
men  with  a  "  charity  which  thinketh  no  evil ; " 
looked  not  so  much  to  see  what  was  in  the  man  to- 
day as  what  were  the  possibilities  for  the  man  in 
the  future.  But  it  was  because  of  this  ineradicable 
faith  in  the  possibility  of  goodness  in  men  that  he 
was  the  great  preacher.    "  We  are  saved  by  hope ;  " 


THE   PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH   CHURCH    115 

if  the  pulpit  universally  recognized  this  truth  it 
would  possess  a  much  greater  saving  grace. 

In  the  same  spirit  in  which  he  studied  nature  and 
man,  he  studied  the  Bible.  A  pocket  Bible  was  his 
constant  companion.  If  by  being  a  Bible  preacher 
is  meant  a  preacher  who  gathers  by  concordance  a 
great  accumulation  of  texts  and  quotes  them  as 
demonstration  of  a  proposition  which  he  wishes  to 
establish,  Mr.  Beecher  was  not  a  Bible  preacher. 
If  by  a  Bible  preacher  is  meant  a  man  who  is 
suffused  through  and  through  with  the  spirit,  in- 
spiration, and  uplifting  influence  which  is  in  this 
collection  of  Hebrew  literature,  Mr.  Beecher  was 
preeminently  a  Bible  preacher.  "  Under  the  fos- 
sil," says  M.  Taine,  "  there  was  an  animal ;  and 
behind  the  document  there  was  a  man.  Why  do 
you  study  the  shell  except  to  bring  before  you  the 
animal  ?  So  you  study  the  document  only  to  know 
the  man,"  So  Mr.  Beecher  studied  the  Bible.  "  A 
Bible  alone,"  he  says,  "is  nothing.  A  Bible  is 
what  the  man  is  who  stands  behind  it  —  a  book  of 
hieroglyphics,  if  he  be  nothing  but  a  spiritual 
Champollion ;  a  book  of  rituals,  if  he  be  nothing 
but  a  curiosity-nionger  or  an  ingenious  framer  of 
odds  and  ends  of  things  ;  and  a  valuable  guide,  full 
of  truth  and  full  of  benefit  for  mankind,  if  he  be 
a  great  soul  filled  with  living  thought."  The  Bible 
is  primarily  a  revelation  of  the  higher  spiritual  ex- 
perience of  men  ;  it  is  a  revelation  of  God  just  in 
so  far  as  God  is  in  spiritual  experience.  The  study 
of  the  Bible  as  a  document,  that  we  may  know  the 


lie  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

men  who  produced  the  document,  and  so  better 
imderstand  the  spiritual  experience  in  and  through 
which  God  is  revealed,  constitutes  the  miscalled 
"  Higher  Criticism."  It  was  the  recognition  of  the 
man  behind  the  document,  and  the  spiritual  expe- 
rience in  the  man,  which  both  made  famous  and 
subjected  to  severe  criticism  Dean  Milman's  "  His- 
tory of  the  Jews "  and  Dean  Stanley's  "  History 
of  the  Jewish  Church."  To  what  extent  the  same 
spirit  actuated  Mr.  Beecher's  pulpit  use  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  to  what  extent  the  results  of  the 
"  Higher  Criticism "  were  anticipated  by  him,  is 
indicated  by  the  volume  of  popular  lectures  on  the 
Bible  preached  during  the  winter  of  1878-79,  and 
subsequently  published  under  the  title  "  Bible 
Studies." 

But  it  was  the  New  Testament  which  he  chiefly 
studied.  He  did  not  merely  read  it  and  re-read  it  ; 
he  did  not  merely  study  the  interpreters  of  it ;  his 
study  was  not  mainly  nor  even  largely  textual  and 
verbal ;  I  doubt  whether  he  ever  spent  much  time 
over  questions  of  grammatical  construction  or  ver- 
bal translation  ;  the  object  of  his  study  was  always 
to  get  at  the  living  thought  of  the  writer,  to  under- 
stand and  put  himself  in  possession  of  the  writer's 
experience.  In  this  study  he  made  use  of  his  pen, 
working  over  the  passage  under  his  consideration, 
analyzing  it  and  writing  down  the  analysis,  either 
to  clarify  it,  to  fasten  it  in  his  own  mind,  or  to 
preserve  it  for  future  reference.  A  striking  illus- 
tration of  this  his  method  of  study  is  an  analysis 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    117 

of  the  seventh  chapter  of  Romans,  which  he  wrote, 
I  believe,  some  time  in  the  seventies.  He  subse- 
quently gave  it  to  me,  and  it  was  published  in 
"  The  Christian  Union  "  in  1887,  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  The  analysis  is  worked  out  in  a  manner 
analogous  to  that  of  a  lawyer's  brief,  and  with  a 
detail  which  recalls  the  method  of  Dr.  Charles  G. 
Finney.^  While  he  thus  familiarized  himself,  not 
only  with  the  writings  and  the  thoughts,  but  even 
more  with  the  vital  experiences  of  Paul,  he  gave,  if 
not  a  more  assiduous,  a  more  constant  and  compre- 
hensive study  to  the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ.  "  Christ,"  says  William  Arnot,  "  is  the 
living  Seed  ;  the  Bible  is  the  husk  that  contains 
the  Seed."  It  was  that  he  might  understand  and 
interpret  this  living  Seed  that  Mr.  Beecher  studied 
and  used  the  Four  Gospels.  I  doubt  whether  any 
minister  ever  lived  who  in  a  stricter  sense  preached 
Jesus  Christ.  When  he  died,  leaving  his  life  of 
Christ  but  half  finished,  his  sons  were  able  to  com- 
plete it,  with  scarcely  a  break,  by  quotations  from 
his  sermons,  except  that  there  was  no  sermon  to 
be  found  describing  the  crucifixion.  This  scene 
was  so  sacred  to  Mr.  Beecher  that  he  never  ven- 
tured to  attempt  a  portrayal  of  it. 

If  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Beecher 
was  no  student,  it  is  equally  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  he  was  accustomed  to  speak  without  prepara- 
tion. In  his  early  ministry  he  had  made  a  careful 
analytical  study  of  the  old  English  divines,  not  so 
1  See  Appendix  II. 


118  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

much  for  their  thought  as  for  their  style.  He  wrote 
his  early  sermons  fully  and  sometimes  with  consid- 
erable care.  I  think  his  ''  Lectures  to  Young  Men," 
given  in  Indianapolis,  were  fully  written.  Rhetoric 
had  thus  become  to  him,  as  had  elocution,  a  second 
nature.  But  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing  his 
preparation  of  his  theme  was  chiefly  a  brooding,  a 
meditating,  a  considering.  This  took  no  little  time ; 
but  the  immediate  analysis  of  his  theme,  its  formu- 
lation, and  the  verbal  phrasing  of  it,  were  ac- 
complished with  marvelous  rapidity.  He  told  me 
once  his  method  ;  I  describe  it  from  memory.  "  I 
have,"  he  says,  "  half  a  dozen  or  more  topics  lying 
loose  in  my  mind  through  the  week  ;  I  think  of 
one  or  another,  as  occasion  may  serve,  anywhere, 
—  at  home,  in  the  street,  in  the  horse-car.  I 
rarely  know  what  theme  I  shall  use  until  Sunday 
morning.  Then,  after  breakfast,  I  go  into  my 
study,  as  a  man  goes  into  his  orchard  ;  I  feel  among 
these  themes  as  he  feels  among  the  apples,  to  find 
the  ripest  and  the  best ;  the  theme  which  seems 
most  ripe  I  pluck ;  then  I  select  my  text,  analyze  my 
subject,  prepare  my  sermon,  and  go  into  the  pulpit 
to  preach  it  while  it  is  fresh." 

In  this  preparation  he  wrote  the  introduction 
and  the  earlier  portions  of  his  sermon  in  full,  but 
as  the  time  for  the  church  service  grew  near,  the 
writing  was  more  abbreviated;  then  mere  heads 
were  jotted  down,  in  single  sentences,  or  perhaps 
single  words ;  and  at  last,  almost  as  the  bell  began 
to  toU,  he  caught  up  his  unfinished  manuscript, 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    119 

walked  with  long,  rapid  strides  to  the  church, 
edged  his  way  through  the  throng,  with  a  greet- 
ing here  and  there  to  a  special  friend,  dropped 
his  soft  felt  hat  by  the  side  of  his  chair,  put  his 
notes  on  the  table  beside  him,  sometimes  added 
to  them  with  a  pencil  while  the  choir  was  sing- 
ing the  anthem.^  When  the  time  for  the  sermon 
came,  the  notes  lay  on  the  open  Bible  before  him. 
He  read  in  a  quiet  manner,  not  always  easily  audi- 
ble tebughout  the  church  unless  it  were  notably 
still,  the  first  and  fully  written  pages,  dropped  his 
manuscript  to  throw  in  a  thought  that  flashed 
upon  him,  came  back  to  it  again,  dropped  it  again, 
presently  dropped  it  altogether,  either  not  to  recur 
to  it  at  all,  or  to  recur  to  it  only  to  catch  from 
some  word  or  sentence  a  hint  as  to  the  next  point 
in  the  current  of  his  thought.  To  the  careless  it 
seemed  that  Mr.  Beecher's  preparation  of  his  ser- 
mon was  left  to  Sunday  morning  ;  in  fact,  he  rarely 
if  ever  in  his  ordinary  preaching  treated  a  theme 
until  he  had  given  to  it  weeks  of  meditation.  In 
his  earlier  years  there  lay  on  his  study  table  a 
little  notebook  with  flexible  covers,  about  the  size 
of  a  sheet  of  conunercial  note-paper,  full  of  hints, 
subjects,  themes,  sketches  of  possible  sermons, 
with  an  occasional  fully  articulated  skeleton.  Later 
I  think  he  gave  up  this  notebook,  but  his  pocket 
was  generally  half  fuU  of  letters,  on  the  back  of 

^  This  was  his  method  during  the  earlier  years  of  his  Brooklyn 
ininisti7  ;  subsequently  he  often  preached  from  mere  notes  jotted 
down  on  a  sheet  of  note-paper. 


120  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

any  one  of  which  he  would  jot  down  thoughts  for 
sermons,  as  they  might  strike  him,  wherever  he 
happened  to  be.  A  single  illustration  may  serve 
to  make  clear  this  excogitation  of  his  sermons. 
He  was  to  preach  at  an  ordination  in  New  Eng- 
land. "  I  think,"  he  said  to  me,  "  I  shall  preach  a 
sermon  on  pulpit  djraamics ;  you  had  better  look 
for  it."  I  did  look  for  it,  and  it  was  nothing  but 
a  description  of  the  incidental  advantages  of  and 
happiness  in  the  ministry  as  a  profession.  When 
I  next  met  him  I  asked,  "  Where  is  that  sermon 
on  pulpit  dynamics  ?  "  "  It  was  not  ripe,"  he  re- 
plied ;  "  but  I  shall  get  something  out  of  it  yet." 
What  he  did  get  out  of  it  was,  ten  years  later,  the 
Yale  "Lectures  on  Preaching,"  one  of  the  best 
pieces  of  work  he  ever  did. 

When  I  turn  from  some  account  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
general  and  specific  methods  of  preparation  to  an 
analysis  of  the  sermons  themselves,  the  difficulty  of 
furnishing  any  generic  analysis  is  almost  insuper- 
able. This  is  partly  due  to  the  extraordinary  vari- 
ety of  elements  which  entered  into  them.  "  The 
most  myriad-minded  man  since  Shakesj)eare," 
Charles  H.  Spurgeon  is  said  to  have  called  Mr. 
Beecher.  This  myriad-mindedness  shows  itself  in 
the  structure  and  composition  of  his  sermons.  He 
advised  the  young  men  at  Yale  Theological  Semi- 
nary never  to  preach  two  sermons  alike,  if  they 
could  help  it  —  counsel  founded  upon  his  own  prac- 
tice. The  Harper  and  Brothers  edition  of  his 
"  Sermons  "  containing  a  selection  of  forty-six  dis- 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    121 

courses,  taken  from  the  preaching  of  ten  years, 
inchides  an  autobiographical  exposition  of  the 
spirit  and  purpose  of  his  ministry  in  "  Thirteen 
Years  in  the  Gospel  Ministry,  a  Sermon  of  Minis- 
terial Experience  ;  "  a  prose  poem  in  "  The  Sepul- 
chre in  the  Garden ;  "  a  theological  discourse  in 
"  The  Divinity  of  Christ  maintained  in  a  Consid- 
eration of  his  Relations  to  the  Soul  of  Man  ;  "  a 
spiritual  rhapsody  in  "  The  Gentleness  of  God ;  " 
a  meditation,  the  fruit  of  a  spring  day  spent  on 
his  farm,  in  "  The  Lilies  of  the  Field,  a  Study  of 
Spring  for  the  Careworn  ;  "  an  interpretation  of 
nature  in  "  The  Storm  and  its  Lessons  ;  "  an  expo- 
sition of  the  simplest  ethical  duties  in  "  Faithfulness 
in  Little  Things;  "  an  exposition  of  an  Old  Testa- 
ment story  in  "  Three  Eras  in  Life  :  God  —  Love 
—  Grief  —  as  Exemplified  in  the  Experience  of 
Jacob  ;  "  —  in  truth,  there  are  scarcely  two  ser- 
mons in  this  collection  which  in  form,  structure,  and 
method  are  alike. 

There  are,  however,  certain  general  character- 
istics which  may  be  said  to  belong  to  all  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  sermons.  He  rarely  preached  a  textual 
or  expository  sermon.^  "  A  text,"  he  has  some-\ 
where  said,  ''  is  like  a  gate  ;  some  ministers  swing 
back  and  forth  on  it ;  I  push  it  open  and  go  in." 
His  texts  were  rarely  more  than  mottoes  for,  or 
introductions  to  his  discourse.  This  was  by  no 
accident ;  it  sprang  by  necessity  out  of  his  methods 

^  His  Bible  Studies  may  be  reg-arded  as  an  exception,  but  they 
were  lectures  rather  than  sermons. 


122  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

of  preparation.  He  first  determined  the  object 
that  he  wished  to  accomplish  by  his  sermon  —  some 
change  in  life,  practical,  spiritual,  or  intellectual, 
in  an  individual,  or  in  a  type,  or  in  a  church,  or  in 
the  entire  community  ;  then  he  selected  the  theme 
which  would  be,  in  his  judgment,  most  instrumental 
to  this  end ;  and  lastly  the  text  which  would  serve 
as  an  introduction  to  the  theme.  I  do  not  mean 
that  his  mind  always  went  through  these  processes 
in  this  order ;  I  do  mean  that  in  the  order  of  im- 
portance the  object  to  be  accomplished  came  first, 
the  theme  by  which  it  was  to  be  accomplished  sec- 
ond, the  text  which  was  to  introduce  the  theme 
third.  He  never  forced  texts  out  of  their  connec- 
tion, nor  imputed  to  them  a  fanciful  meaning,  nor 
employed  them  as  mere  devices  to  awaken  a  guess- 
ing curiosity  in  the  minds  of  the  congregation. 
Strictly  doctrinal  sermons  were  few  ;  occasionally 
he  preached  one  for  the  purpose  of  defining  his 
position  and  reaffirming  his  substantial  agreement 
with  the  evangelical  Protestantism  in  which  he  had 
been  bred.  When  he  essayed  an  entrance  into  pure 
theology  he  was  not  at  his  best.  His  argument 
for  the  divinity  of  Christ  derived  from  his  rela- 
tions to  the  human  soul  is  effective,  not  because  it 
is  an  exposition  of  philosophy,  but  because  it  is  an 
interpretation  of  experience  ;  but  when  he  attempts 
to  define  this  divinity,  as  in  a  sermon  preached  in 
1879,  and  subsequently  in  the  introduction  to  his 
life  of  Christ,  as  "  simply  the  Divine  Spirit  in  a 
human  body,"  he  offers  a  definition  with  which  it 


THE  PASTOR   OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    123 

is  impossible  to  reconcile  the  spirit  of  his  own 
preaching.  Nowhere  in  religious  literature  is  the 
essential  humanity  of  Christ's  nature  more  illus- 
trated and  enforced  than  in  Mr.  Beecher's  preach- 
ing ;  nor  anywhere  is  Christ's  essential  divinity 
more  emphasized. 

In  truth,  Mr.  Beecher  was  indifferent  as  to  theo- 
logical theories,  ritualistic  observances,  and  church 
connections  ;  only  the  realities  of  life  interested 
him.  He  was  a  Congregationalist,  partly  because 
he  was  born  in  New  England,  partly  because  he 
was  independent  by  nature  ;  but  he  was  quite  ready 
to  co-work  with  ministers  of  all  denominations, 
and  he  would  have  been  equally  ready  to  work  in 
any  denomination  if  he  could  have  had  in  it  equal 
liberty.  As  we  have  seen,  the  creed  of  his  church 
did  not  differ  from  that  of  New  School  Presbyte- 
rianism  ;  there  was  a  baptistry  under  the  pulpit,  and 
candidates  for  admission  were  baptized  by  immer- 
sion or  sprinkling,  as  they  preferred ;  the  prayer- 
meetings  had  the  fervor  of  Methodist  prayer-meet- 
ings ;  Mr.  Beecher  was  by  nature  too  unconventional 
to  adopt  a  liturgy,  but  for  the  liturgy  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church  he  had  a  great  affection.  "  Should 
our  own  children,"  he  says,  "find  their  religious 
wants  better  met  in  the  service  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  than  in  the  Plymouth  Congregational 
Church,  we  should  take  them  by  the  hand  and  lead 
them  to  its  altars."  On  the  questions  at  issue  be- 
tween the  different  denominations  I  think  he  rarely 
if  ever  preached,  unless  the  preaching  of  his  later 


124  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

years  against  certain  tenets  of  the  severer  type  of 
Calvinism  affords  an  exception. 

But  though  he  was  not  a  theological  preacher, 
if  by  that  is  meant  a  preacher  whose  aim  it  is  to 
expound  a  certain  philosophy  of  religion,  a  simple 
but  consistent  theology  underlay  all  his  ministry 
from  its  beginning  to  its  end.  Professor  William 
James,  in  his  volume  on  the  "  Varieties  of  Reli- 
gious Experience,"  declares  that  "  there  is  a  cer- 
tain uniform  deliverance  in  which  religions  all 
appear  to  meet.  It  consists  of  two  parts :  1.  An 
uneasiness  ;  2.  Its  solution.  —  1.  The  uneasiness, 
reduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  is  a  sense  that  there 
is  something  wrong  about  us  as  we  naturally  stand. 
2.  The  solution  is  a  sense  that  we  are  saved  from 
the  wrongness  by  making  proper  connection  with 
the  higher  powers."  This  is  very  analogous  to 
Professor  Christlieb's  declaration  that  evangelical 
Christianity  is  all  summed  up  in  the  two  words 
"  sin  "  and  "  salvation."  In  the  evangelical  theo- 
logy as  interpreted  by  Christlieb,  in  the  message 
of  universal  religion  as  interpreted  by  Professor 
James,  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  a  devout  and 
earnest  believer.  It  is  true  that  in  his  later  years 
he  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall  of  man  in 
Adam,  and  he  always  repudiated  the  idea  that  the 
race  could  justly  be  held  responsible  for  any  such 
fall.  It  is  true  that  he  repudiated,  in  vigorous  and 
even  vehement  terms,  the  doctrine  of  Total  Deprav- 
ity. This  word,  he  said,  "  is  an  interloper ;  it  is 
not  to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures ;  we  do  not  be- 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    125 

lieve  that  it  is  even  to  be  found  in  the  catechism 
and  confessions  of  faith  of  Protestant  or  Cathohc 
Christendom ;  we  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  give 
the  mischievous  phrase  any  respect;  we  do  not 
believe  in  it,  nor  in  the  thing  which  it  obviously 
signifies  ;  it  is  an  unscrupulous,  monstrous,  and 
unredeemable  lie."  But  he  did  believe,  "  with  con- 
tinual sorrow  of  heart  and  daily  overflowing  evi- 
dence, in  the  deep  sinfidness  of  universal  man ; " 
believed  that  "  no  man  lives  who  does  not  need  to 
repent  of  sin,  and  to  turn  from  it ;  "  beheved  that 
"  turnmg  from  sin  is  work  so  deep  and  touches  so 
closely  the  very  springs  of  being  that  no  man  will 
ever  change  except  by  the  help  of  God."  This  was 
in  him  no  theoretic  conception  based  either  on 
a  priori  reasoning  or  on  ancient  Biblical  history ; 
it  was  a  conviction  borne  in  upon  him  by  his  own 
personal  experience  and  by  his  wide  observation  of 
life.  Few  ministers  in  the  American  pulpit  have 
preached  more  searchingly  on  human  sins,  or 
awakened  more  vividly  in  men's  consciousness  the 
sense  of  their  wrong-doing ;  it  is  doubtful  whether 
any  minister  has  preached  more  effectively  practi- 
cal ethics  —  the  supreme  obligation  of  love  to  God 
and  man  as  the  controlling  motive  of  the  life,  and 
the  various  specific  obligations  which  that  supreme 
obligation  involves. 

But  this  was  not  the  burden  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
preaching.  His  aim  was  less  to  con^^nce  men 
"that  there  is  something  wrong  about  us  as  we 
naturally  stand  "  than  to  make  available  to  them 


126  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

the  true  solution,  namely,  "  that  we  are  saved  from 
the  wrongness  by  making  proper  connection  with 
the  higher  powers."  He  believed  that  the  Gospel 
is  the  "  power  of  God  unto  salvation,"  and  his 
preeminent  ambition  in  the  ministry  was  to  make 
that  Gospel  effectual.  He  affirmed  in  the  strong- 
est terms  that  success  in  preaching  depends  on  the 
\y  power  of  the  preacher  to  put  before  men  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  that  high  above  all  other  influences 
is  Christ,  "  a  living  Person  who  gave  himself  a 
ransom  for  sinners  and  now  ever  lives  to  make 
intercession  for  them  ;  "  that  "  there  can  be  no 
sound  and  effective  method  of  preaching  ethics 
even  which  does  not  derive  its  authority  from 
the  Lord  Christ ;  "  that  "  all  reformations  of  evil 
in  society,  all  civil  and  social  reformations,  should 
spring  from  this  vital  centre  ;  "  that  "  all  philan- 
thropies are  partial  and  imperfect  that  do  not  grow 
out  of  this  same  root ;  "  that  "  all  public  questions 
of  justice,  of  liberty,  of  equity,  of  purity,  of  intel- 
ligence should  be  vitalized  by  the  power  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus."  ^  In  these  respects  Mr.  Beecher's 
preaching  was  the  antipodes  of  naturalistic.  He 
believed  profoundly  in  the  declaration  of  the  Ni- 
cene  Creed  that  Jesus  Christ  "  for  us  men  and  for 
our  salvation  came  down  from  Heaven."  He  be- 
lieved, in  other  words,  that  the  connection  with  the 
higher  powers  has  been  made  for  us  by  the  life, 
sufferings,  and  death  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  aim 
of  his  preaching  was  to  persuade  men  to  accept 

^  Sermons,  Harper  and  Brothers'  edition,  vol.  ii.  p.  200. 


THE  PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    127 

this  connection,  and  so  escape  from  the  sinfulness 
in  which  they  were  enmeshed.^ 

As  his  preaching  was  non- naturalistic,  so  it  was 
non-rationalistic.  The  basis  of  naturalism  in  reli- 
gion is  the  assumption  that  men  can  save  themselves 
from  sinf uhiess  without  a  divine  helper ;  the  basis 
of  rationalism  in  preaching  is  the  doctrine  that  men 
are  governed  by  their  reason,  and  if  they  are  per- 
suaded of  a  truth  will  follow  it.  Mr.  Beecher  did 
not  believe  that  men  are  governed  by  their  reason  ; 
he  believed  that  they  are  governed  by  their  motive 
powers.  He  therefore  appealed  directly  to  their 
emotions.  It  was  often  said  in  criticism  of  him 
that  he  was  an  emotional  preacher.  He  would  not 
have  denied  the  assertion.  He  was  an  emotional 
preacher,  partly  by  reason  of  his  emotional  temper- 
ament, partly  by  reason  of  his  psychological  con- 
ception of  the  forces  that  determine  life.  Even  more 
than  to  show  men  the  right  way,  he  sought  to  fur- 
nish them  with  power  which  would  impel  them  in 
the  right  way.  He  believed  in  enthusiasm,  and  he 
imparted  enthusiasm  to  all  who  came  under  his 
dominating  influence.  He  did  not  confound  the 
sentiments  and  the  emotions ;  he  did  not  attempt 
to  play  ui3on  the  sentiments.  As  little  as  any  man 
I  ever  knew  was  he  ambitious  to  move  men  either 
to  laughter  or  to  tears,  except  as  through  laughter 
and  tears  he  could  inspire  men  to  higher  spiritual 
living.    With  him  oratory  was  not  an  end,  but  a 

^  Compare  for  a  consideration  of  the  substance  of  his  preach- 
ing, chapters  i.  and  iv. 


128  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

means.  His  aim  was  not  to  amuse,  excite,  or  even 
instruct,  but  through  instruction  and  inspiration, 
through  humor  and  pathos,  to  bring  the  whole  man 
into  vital  union  with  God,  and  the  whole  life  into 
conformity  with  the  law  of  God  as  it  is  interpreted 
by  the  life  and  character  of  Christ. 

Thus  his  preaching  was  more  than  emotional,  it 
was  spiritual.  He  believed  in  the  potential  divinity 
in  every  man;  he  beheved  that  if  this  potential 
divinity  were  once  awakened  and  given  its  true 
place,  it  would  bring  all  the  man  into  subjection  to 
the  law  of  God,  and  he  sought,  by  reason,  by  imagi- 
nation, by  humor,  by  pathos,  by  illustration,  and  by 
emotion,  but  yet  more  than  by  any  or  all  of  these, 
by  direct  spiritual  contact,  to  evoke  this  divine 
potentiality  and  make  it  actual  and  effective.  Mr. 
Beecher  would  not  have  been  the  preacher  that  he 
was  if  he  had  not  been  essentially  a  mystic.  By  a 
mystic  I  mean  a  man  who  possesses  the  power  of 
seeing  immediately  and  directly  the  invisible  and 
the  eternal.  "  If  I  were  asked,"  he  told  the  Yale 
theological  students,  "  what  had  been  in  my  own 
ministry  the  unseen  source  of  more  help  and  more 
power  than  anything  else,  I  should  say  that  my 
mother  gave  to  me  a  temperament  that  enabled 
me  to  see  the  unseeable  and  to  know  the  unknow- 
able, to  realize  things  not  created  as  if  they  were, 
and  oftentimes  far  more  than  if  they  were,  present 
to  my  outward  senses."  Mr.  Beecher's  imagination 
was  not  a  mere  faculty  for  ornamentation,  it  was  a 
power  of  inunediately  perceiving  the  invisible.    His 


THE   PASTOR   OF  PLYMOUTH   CHURCH     129 

belief  in  God  was  not  what  Carlyle  contemptuously 
calls  "  an  hypothetical  God."  God  was  to  him  a 
perpetual  presence.  He  knew  God  and  walked  with 
him.  So  natural  and  simple  was  this  faith  that  it 
required  for  its  cidtivation  no  adventitious  circum- 
stances ;  it  was  entirely  congruous  in  his  mind  with 
secular  activities,  domestic  enjoyments,  ebullient 
mirth.  He  had  the  faith  of  a  child  who  never  thinks 
tliat  he  may  not  be  merry  in  his  father's  presence. 
Merriment  and  reverence  were  not  to  him  in  the 
least  incongruous.  Men  who  were  repelled  by  a 
faith  of  a  more  austere  type  appreciated  a  faith 
wliich  was  so  simply  and  naturally  human.  The 
consciousness  of  God  was  awakened  in  men  by  one 
who  recognized  God's  fellowship  in  all  the  com- 
mon experiences  of  life.  This  pervasive  faith  made 
him  not  merely  an  orator  about  religion,  but  an 
imparter  of  religion,  and  constituted  the  secret  of 
his  pidpit  power.  It  interprets  at  once  his  real  re- 
verence and  his  seeming  irreverence  ;  his  fellowship 
with  God  no  less  in  secular  than  in  sacred  hours, 
and  his  disregard  for  the  conventions  of  religion 
the  utility  of  which  for  less  impressionable  soids  he 
sometimes  failed  to  realize.  And  yet  this  mystical 
power  that  makes  all  ideals  realities  because  all 
ideals  are  parts  of  the  Infinite  and  the  Eternal 
power  was  mated  in  Mr.  Beecher  to  a  cool,  hard, 
practical  common  sense.  He  was  mystical,  but  he 
was  rational.  All  the  visions  that  were  brouo-ht  to 
his  mind  through  his  imagination  he  tested  and 
measured  by  the  judgment.    He  was  not  at  times 


IX 


130  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

a  rationalist,  and  at  times  a  mystic ;  all  his  mys- 
ticism was  rationalistic  mysticism,  and  all  his 
rationalism  was  a  mystical  rationalism.  A  great 
deal  of  the  skepticism  of  our  day  I  think  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  men  are  trying  to  demonstrate  reli- 
gious truth  by  the  faculties  by  which  it  can  only  be 
tested  ;  they  are  trying  to  build  up  faith  in  God  by 
the  process  by  which  only  faith  in  God  can  be  mea- 
sured after  it  exists.  As  though  men  should  attempt 
to  make  flowers  by  tearing  flowers  to  pieces ;  as 
though  men  should  attempt  to  make  life  by  dissect- 
ing the  living  body.  Mr.  Beecher  saw  and  knew 
the  Eternal.  Then  what  he  had  seen  he  brought  to 
the  judgment  bar  of  reason  and  conscience,  and  his 
pulpit  gave  the  joint  testimony  of  his  faith  and  his 
reason. 

This  mystic  quality  of  Mr.  Beecher  gave  to  his 
^  prayers  a  spiritual  power  quite  as  remarkable  as 
the  power  of  his  preaching.  The  Puritan  doctrine 
that  regeneration  entirely  changes  the  character 
was  perhaps  the  cause  which  led  the  Puritan 
churches  to  assume  that  any  regenerate  soul  can 
lead  a  congregation  in  prayer,  and  to  impose  upon 
every  layman,  cultivated  and  uncultivated,  the 
duty  of  praying  in  public  in  the  prayer-meeting. 
In  truth,  there  is  no  intellectual  exercise  so  diffi- 
cult as  that  of  public  prayer.  He  who  would  con- 
duct the  devotions  of  a  congregation  must  not 
think  of  the  congregation,  otherwise  he  will  in- 
stinctively address  them  ;  he  must  think  of  the 
congregation,  otherwise  he  will  engage  in  a  mere 


THE   PASTOR  OF  PLYMOUTH  CHURCH    131 

monologue,  while  the  congregation  listen  to  his 
closet  talk  with  God.  Which  of  these  two  is  the 
more  indecorous  and  irreverent  it  is  not  easy  to 
say.  It  is  because  of  this  inherent  difficulty  that 
extemporaneous  prayers  fall  so  readily  into  one  of 
three  categories  :  unrealized  ritual,  practically  a 
repetition  of  old-time  forms,  without  the  graceful 
and  well-ordered  phraseology  which  belongs  to  an 
historic  liturgy  ;  a  spiritual  monologue,  with  the 
congregation  in  the  attitude  of  eavesdroppers  ;  or 
a  public  speech,  nominally  addressed  to  God, 
really  to  the  human  audience.  Mr.  Beecher's 
prayers  for  many  years  were  taken  down  by  a 
shorthand  writer  and  were  published  with  his  ser- 
mons in  "  The  Christian  Union,"  subsequently  in 
pamphlet  form,  and  eventually  selections  of  them 
in  two  volumes.  Having  undertaken  some  years 
ago  to  compile  a  book  of  devotions  for  private  and 
family  use,  I  necessarily  made  a  somewhat  large 
collection,  and  a  somewhat  careful  study,  of  the 
literature  of  prayer.  If  there  is  any  collection  of 
prayers  which  surpasses  these  published  prayers 
of  Mr.  Beecher  in  simple  spiritual  eloquence,  in  the 
self-revelation  of  childlikeness  of  heart  and  famil- 
iarity of  fellowship  with  the  Everlasting  Father, 
and  in  understanding  and  interpretation  of  the 
wants,  simple  and  complex,  superficial  and  pro- 
found, of  the  human  heart,  I  have  never  seen  it. 
Rarely  does  one  of  these  prayers  trench  in  charac- 
ter upon  public  address  ;  occasionally  it  is,  in  part 
at  least,  a  monologue  ;  more  frequently  it  is  sim- 


132  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

ply  a  new  phrasing  of  common  and  oft  reiterated 
petitions  ;  but  in  general  it  is  a  gathering  up  of 
the  experiences  of  the  varied  congregation  and 
their  interpretation  to  the  Father  on  behalf  of  his 
children.  A  prophet  is  one  who  interprets  God  to 
man  ;  a  priest  is  one  who  interprets  man  to  God. 
Mr.  Beecher  would  have  disavowed  being  a  priest ; 
he  would  have  insisted  that  every  man  can  carry 
his  own  wants  to  God  without  the  intervention  of 
any  intermediary.  But  far  more  than  most  minis- 
ters he  was  a  true  priest,  interpreting  men's  deeper 
wants  to  themselves,  and  so  acting  as  their  inter- 
preter in  declaring  those  deeper  wants  to  him  who 
alone  can  provide  for  them. 

No  one  can  understand  Mr.  Beecher  as  a  social 
reformer  who  does  not  first  understand  him  as  a 
pastor  and  preacher,  a  minister  to  the  spiritual 
life,  a  prophet  and  priest,  an  interpreter  of  man  to 
God  and  of  God  to  man.  From  this  aspect  of  his 
character  and  life  we  turn  to  that  aspect  presented 
by  his  career  as  a  reformer,  a  service  necessarily 
more  prominent  in  the  history  of  his  country,  but, 
as  I  believe,  less  profoundly  influential  in  the  real 
life  of  his  generation. 


CHAPTER  VI 
PARENTHETICAL 

The  movements  of  tlie  generation  just  preceding 
the  existing  generation  are  usually  those  least  com- 
prehended by  the  existing  generation  ;  they  are  not 
remote  enough  to  constitute  past  history,  they  are 
not  recent  enough  to  constitute  current  history ; 
but  it  is  impossible  to  understand  correctly  the  atti- 
tude of  Mr.  Beecher,  or  to  measure  intelligently 
the  influence  which  he  exerted,  without  understand- 
ing something  of  the  complicated  issues  which  he 
confronted  when  he  came  to  Brooklyn  in  1847. 

It  is  therefore  necessary  to  turn  aside  from 
the  narration  of  the  events  of  his  life  in  order  to 
trace  briefly  the  growth  both  of  slavery  and  of  the 
anti-slavery  sentiment  in  the  United  States,  and 
to  describe  briefly  the  conflicting  opinions  of  the 
abolitionists  on  the  one  side,  and  of  the  timid, 
the  reactionaries,  and  the  apologists  for  slavery  on 
the  other,  as  they  existed  at  the  time  when  Mr. 
Beecher  began  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the 
discussions  to  which  slavery  gave  rise. 

The  anti-slavery  issue  in  1847  was  far  more 
complicated  than  it  appears  to  be  to  the  reader  in 
1900.  Roughly  speaking,  the  community  in  the 
North  was  divided  into  three  parties :  there  was 


134  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

an  occasional  advocate  of  slavery,  a  conservative, 
who  defended  it  because  "  whatever  is,  is  right ;  " 
an  economist,  who  thought  it  essential  to  the  cotton 
industry,  and  the  cotton  industry  essential  to  the 
welfare  of  the  country ;  a  romanticist,  entranced  by 
the  patriarchal  aspects  of  domestic  slavery,  or  re- 
pelled from  the  anti-slavery  movement  by  the  vitu- 
perative spirit  of  the  radical  abolitionists ;  but  on 
the  whole  there  was  no  sentiment  in  the  North  in 
favor  of  slavery.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  apathy ; 
there  were  a  great  many  who  regarded  the  issue  as 
remote,  and  dreaded  its  approach ;  there  were  men 
who  cared  more  for  the  integrity  of  the  political 
party,  or  of  the  ecclesiastical  organization,  than 
they  did  for  their  fellow  men  ;  there  were  ministers 
who  did  not  think  that  Cliristianity  had  to  do  with 
social  questions,  and  who  condemned  the  preaching 
of  liberty  and  humanity  as  the  preaching  of  politics  ; 
there  were  editors  who  had  never  studied  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and  did  not  realize 
that  under  the  Constitution  anything  could  be  done 
to  limit  or  restrict  what  they  conceded  to  be  a 
serious  evil ;  there  were  moralists,  all  of  whose 
indignation  was  expended  on  the  abolitionists  for 
their  attacks  on  the  Constitution  and  the  Church, 
and  who  had  no  indignation  left  to  expend  on  the 
pro-slavery  spirit,  which  denied  in  the  Southern 
States,  and  sought  to  deny  throughout  the  nation, 
free  press,  free  speech,  and  free  schools.  These 
classes,  grouped  together,  constituted  what  was 
sometimes  called  the  "  conservative,"   sometimes 


PARENTHETICAL  135 

the  "pro-slavery"  party,  though  neither  epithet 
properly  described  them.  There  were,  secondly, 
the  abolitionists,  who  demanded  the  immediate 
and  unconditional  abolition  of  slavery,  and  as  a 
means  to  that  end,  the  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
under  the  mistaken  impression  that  so  they  would 
secure  immediate  and  unconditional  abolition.  And 
there  were,  thirdly,  the  anti-slavery  men  who  be- 
lieved that  the  Constitution  gave  to  the  federal 
government  ample  powers  to  prevent  the  extension 
of  slavery,  who  wished  to  exert  those  powers  for 
that  purpose,  and  who  believed  that,  if  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery  was  thus  prevented,  it  would  be 
possible  to  secure  eventually  the  peaceable  aboli- 
tion of  slavery  even  in  the  slave  states.  In  order 
to  understand  Beecher's  share  in  the  ultimate  over- 
throw of  slavery,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  these 
three  parties  and  something  of  the  history  which 
produced  them. 

The  year  1620,  which  saw  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
landing  on  Plymouth  Rock,  saw  a  vessel  with 
slaves  on  board  landing  on  the  Virginia  coast. 
Nor  was  slavery  at  first  confined  to  any  section. 
In  1790  —  the  first  term  of  George  Washington  — 
it  existed  in  every  state  of  the  Union,  except  only 
Massachusetts ;  it  did  not  finally  disappear  from 
the  state  of  New  York  until  1827;  and,  as  has 
been  shown  in  a  preceding  chapter,  was  maintained, 
in  spite  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  in  Indiana  imtil 
the  admission  of  Indiana  as  a  state  into  the  Union 
in  the  year  1816.    From  the  first  it  existed  under 


136  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

protest.  The  abolition  sentiment,  nurtured  in 
England  by  the  abolition  movement  under  the 
leadership  of  Wilberforce  and  Clarkson,  crossed 
the  sea  and  made  itself  felt  in  the  American 
Colonies.  The  first  anti-slavery  societies  included 
Southern  as  well  as  Northern  men.  In  the  original 
draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  one  of 
the  counts  in  the  indictment  against  King  George 
was,  that  he  had  insisted  on  maintaining  the  slave- 
trade  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  state  of  Vir- 
ginia. The  first  anti-slavery  convention,  held  in 
1793  in  the  city  of  Philadeli^hia,  was  attended 
alike  by  Northern  and  Southern  men,  and  empha- 
sized the  issue  between  slavery  and  freedom  as  dis- 
tinctly as  it  was  emphasized,  half  a  century  later, 
by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  William  H.  Seward,  and 
Abraham  Lincoln.  In  the  address  issued  by  that 
convention  it  was  distinctly  affirmed  that  liberty 
and  slavery  cannot  exist  together  on  the  same  con- 
tinent. This  anti-slavery  movement  was  nurtured 
and  promoted  by  the  churches.  The  Presbyterian 
and  Methodist  churches,  especially,  were  distinctly 
anti-slavery  in  their  teachings,  as  well  as  in  their 
sentiments,  and  the  Friends'  Meeting  was  even 
more  outspoken  and  vigorous.  Nor  was  this  work 
of  the  Christian  Church  and  of  the  philanthropic 
anti-slavery  societies  nugatory.  The  anti-slavery 
sentiment  grew  apace.  Partly  owing  to  the  indus- 
trial conditions,  partly  to  political  considerations, 
and  partly  to  humane,  philanthropic,  and  religious 
teachings,  slavery  was  gradually  abolished  in  the 


PARENTHETICAL  137 

states  north  of  the  so-called  Mason  and  Dixon's 
Line  —  the  geographical  boundary  between  Penn- 
sylvania and  Maryland.  In  1830  it  had  disappeared 
absolutely  from  the  last  of  the  so-called  Northern 
States.  Moreover,  under  the  influence  of  these 
teachings,  the  slave-trade  had  been  abolished  by 
Congress  in  1808,  the  earliest  date  at  which  such 
abolition  was  permitted  by  the  Constitution,  and  it 
had  been  practically  abolished  earlier  than  that  by 
statutes  enacted  in  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union 
prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves  from  abroad. ^ 
This  abolition  of  slavery  was  accomplished  by  a 
gradual  and  wholly  peaceful  process,  and  in  most 
if  not  all  the  states  with  some  measure  of  compen- 
sation to  the  slave-owners. 

If  this  movement  could  have  gone  on  unchecked 
slavery  might  have  been  peacefully  abolished 
throughout  the  United  States  by  the  end  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  But  it  was  not  allowed  to  go 
on  unchecked.  Simultaneously  with  the  growth  of 
anti-slavery  sentiment  there  grew  up  a  pro-slavery 
sentiment.  The  invention  of  the  cotton-gin  in  1793, 
and  its  general  adoption  by  the  year  1812,  had 
created  a  great  demand  for  cotton.  Experience 
had  demonstrated  that  cotton  could  be  raised  only 
by  negro  labor,  and  it  was  assumed,  without  argu- 
ment, that  negro  labor  must  be  slave  labor.  The 
South,  responding  to  the  demand  for  negro  labor 
created  by  the  increased  price  and  value  upon  cot- 

1  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  took  no  such  action;  North 
Carolina  levied  a  tax  on  all  slaves  imported. 


138  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

ton,  began  to  put  a  value  upon  slavery  as  an  ins 
dustrial  condition  which  they  had  not  earlier  done. 
This  demand  created  a  new  industry  —  the  rearing 
of  slaves  in  the  Border  States,  to  be  shipped  and 
sold  as  laborers  in  the  Gulf  States.  The  men  who 
engaged  in  this  traffic  were  universally  despised 
thi'oughout  the  South ;  but  the  traffic  went  on,  and 
indeed  was  a  necessity  of  the  slave  system.  These 
industrial  changes  not  only  increased  the  commer- 
cial value  of  slavery,  but  also  changed  its  character. 
Slaves  engaged  in  domestic  service  as  house  ser- 
vants were  still  kindly  treated.  They  were  regarded 
as  in  some  sense  members  of  the  family  ;  were  well 
fed,  well  clothed,  well  cared  for,  and  in  general 
kindly,  though  not  always  respectfully,  treated. 
An  attachment  grew  up  between  them  and  the 
master,  the  mistress,  and  the  children  of  the  home, 
such  as  was  unknown  in  the  domestic  service  of  the 
Northern  States.  But  no  such  relations  were  pos- 
sible between  master  and  servant  when  the  master 
was  engaged  in  rearing  slaves  for  sale,  and  none 
such  were  possible  on  the  great  cotton  and  sugar 
plantations  of  the  South,  where  the  negroes  worked 
in  gangs  under  overseers,  often  of  their  own  race.^ 
Thus,  while  from  the  North  slavery  disappeared,  in 
the  South  slavery  became  the  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic of  its  industrial  system,  and  at  the  same 
time  radically  changed  in   its  character.   Thomas 

1  "  Louisiana  sugar  planters  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  openly  that, 
on  the  whole,  they  found  it  the  best  economy  to  work  off  their 
stock  of  negroes  about  once  in  seven  years  and  then  buy  an  entire 


PARENTHETICAL  ^      139 

Jefferson  had  urged  in  his  later  years  that  all  chil- 
dren born  in  slavery  after  a  certain  date  should  be 
freed,  provided  with  a  home  and  with  some  mea- 
sure of  education  at  public  expense,  and  as  soon  as 
they  reached  competent  age  sent  to  some  place  out- 
side the  country,  as  San  Domingo  ;  but  he  was  the 
last  Southern  statesman  of  any  note  to  advocate 
abolition,  either  gradual  or  immediate. 

These  changes  m  the  economic  conditions  of  the 
South  were  accompanied  inevitably  by  others. 
Wherever  labor  is  servile,  labor  is  disgi-aced.  La- 
bor in  the  South  was  disgraced,  and  the  free  negro 
and  the  poor  white  occupied  positions  less  respected 
than  those  of  the  slave.  The  Southern  States 
relapsed  into  a  condition  of  feudalism  far  inferior 
to  that  of  the  middle  ages.  Socially  and  politically, 
they  became  an  oligarchy  ;  retaining  the  form  but 
not  the  spirit  of  democracy,  ruled  by  a  small  body 
of  land-owners  and  slave-owners.  Education  is 
fatal  to  slavery,  and  the  education  of  the  slave 
was  discouraged  in  all  the  Southern  States  and  ab- 
solutely prohibited  in  many  of  them.  The  education 
of  the  poor  white  would  have  inevitably  produced 
discontent  among  the  negroes ;  therefore  there 
was  no  adequate  provision  for  their  education.  The 
movement  for  free  schools,  beginning  in  New  Eng- 
land and  moving  westward,  never  crossed  into  the 
region  dominated  by  the  slave  power.    Until  after 

new  set  of  hands."  James  Ford  Rhodes:  History  of  the  U.  S., 
vol.  i.  p.  308.  See  this  entire  chapter  iv.  for  a  very  judicial  his- 
torical picture  of  American  slavery  as  it  existed  in  1850. 


140  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

the  Civil  War  not  a  single  Southern  State  pos- 
sessed any  approximation  to  a  free-school  sys- 
tem. 

The  South  was  a  purely  agricultural  country 
and  wished  to  buy  its  manufactured  articles  in 
the  cheapest  market ;  it  therefore  believed  in  free 
trade.  The  North  was  a  manufacturing  commu- 
nity; it  wanted  a  monopoly  for  its  manufactured 
articles,  and  therefore  demanded  a  protective  tariff. 
From  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  two  par- 
ties, representing  two  political  tendencies,  divided 
the  nation  :  one,  led  by  Thomas  Jefferson,  dreaded 
concentration  of  political  power  and  emphasized 
the  value  of  local  self-government ;  the  other,  led 
by  Alexander  Hamilton,  dreaded  the  perils  arising 
from  sectional  self-interest  and  emphasized  the 
importance  of  a  strong  national  organization.  The 
Constitution  was  an  endeavor  to  harmonize  these 
two  forces  —  the  centrifugal  and  the  centripetal. 
For  reasons  which  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  into 
here,  the  centrifugal,  or  Democratic,  or  Jefferso- 
nian,  tendencies  were  greatest  in  the  South  ;  the 
centripetal,  or  national,  or  Hamiltonian,  forces 
were  greatest  in  the  North.  The  North  prospered, 
the  South  did  not.  Immigration  poured  into  the 
North,  and  avoided  the  South.  The  industry  of 
the  North  was  diversified  ;  the  South  gave  itself 
up  to  a  single  industry,  and  that  one  dependent  on 
slave  labor.  Socially,  the  South  was  Cavalier  and 
aristocratic;  the  North  Puritan  and  democratic. 
Thus,  the  South  and  the  North,  united  under  the 


PARENTHETICAL  141 

same  Constitution,  drifted  farther  and  farther 
apart,  and  became  at  first  alien  and  then  hostile 
to  one  another  —  industrially,  economically,  politi- 
cally, socially.  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  crept 
westward  with  the  westward  growth  of  the  nation  : 
all  south  of  that  line  became  aristocratic,  feudal, 
slave;  all  north  of  that  line  became  democratic, 
modern,  free. 

When  the  inclination  is  strong  it  can  generally 
discover  or  invent  reasons  to  justify  it.  The  South 
wished  slavery,  and  found  reasons  for  its  mainte- 
nance. The  economic  advantage  was  pleaded  :  We 
must  have  slave  labor  for  our  cotton,  our  sugar, 
and  our  rice  industry.  The  social  argument  was 
pleaded  :  The  blacks  must  be  kept  in  subjection  to 
the  whites  or  we  shall  have  intermarriage  and  all 
the  evils  that  will  follow  from  intermarriage.  The 
religious  argument  was  pleaded  :  The  curse  of  God 
upon  the  descendants  of  Ham  ;  the  uncondemned 
existence  of  slavery  in  the  Old  Testament  times  ; 
the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  did  not  in  explicit  terms 
condemn  it  in  New  Testament  times.  Southern 
ministers  forgot  the  radical  difference  between 
Roman  slavery  and  Hebrew  slavery;  they  forgot 
that  Hebrew  legislation  surrounded  slavery  with 
such  conditions  that  in  the  time  of  Christ  slavery 
had  almost  if  not  entirely  disappeared  from  Pales- 
tine, except  as  it  was  imported  there  by  Rome  ; 
they  forgot  that  under  the  beneficent  teachings  of 
Christianity  slavery  gradually  disappeared  from 
Europe ;  they  assumed  that  a  condition  of  labor. 


142  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

permitted  for  a  little  while  in  the  early  barbarism 
of  Judaism,  was  the  best  condition  of  labor  for  the 
foremost  and  freest  country  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

At  the  same  time  with  this  growth  of  slavery 
in  the  South  and  this  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
North,  there  grew  up  in  the  North  an  unwonted 
prejudice  against  the  African.  It  would  perhaps 
be  difficult  to  say  why  this  prejudice  was  greater 
in  the  North  than  in  the  South ;  but  of  the  fact 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  negro  was  no  longer  a 
negro  :  he  was  a  "nigger."  Special  sections  of  the 
great  cities  were,  by  a  kind  of  common  consent,  set 
apart  for  the  negroes,  like  the  ghettoes  for  the 
Jews  in  the  mediaeval  cities.  In  the  theatres  they 
were  banished  to  the  upper  galleries,  which  were 
called  derisively  "  the  nigger  heaven."  They  were 
directed  to  the  galleries,  or  to  special,  and  gener- 
ally undesirable,  pews  in  the  churches.  Only  the 
more  servile  forms  of  labor  were  permitted  to  them. 
In  Boston,  later  the  centre  of  the  Abolition  Move- 
ment, on  the  great  days  when  the  Ancient  and 
Honorable  Artillery  paraded  on  Boston  Common, 
the  negroes  were  customarily  hooted  off  the  public 
grounds  before  the  parade  began. 

Something  such  was  the  condition  of  the  country 
in  the  year  1831.  In  that  year  two  events  occurred, 
having  no  apparent  connection,  but  having  a  cer- 
tain striking  dramatic  relation  :  in  Virginia  a  slave 
insurrection  broke  out,  accompanied  with  deeds  of 
barbarism  and  cruelty  ;  in  Boston,  William  Lloyd 


PARENTHETICAL  143 

Garrison  started  "  The  Liberator,"  pledged  to  in- 
stant and  immediate  abolition. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  is  a  type  of  the  radical 
abolitionist  of  the  North,  the  antipodes  of  the  pro- 
slavery  propagandists  of  the  South.  Which  pro- 
duced the  other  has  ever  been  a  matter  of  hot 
debate  between  the  respective  advocates  of  South 
and  North.  The  truth  is,  each  produced  the  other : 
the  fire  creates  a  draught ;  the  draught  increases  the 
fire.  It  was  inevitable  that  the  extension  of  slavery 
and  the  change  in  its  character  should  excite  alike 
assailants  and  advocates  ;  it  was  inevitable  that 
every  assault  should  intensify  the  resolute  purpose 
of  the  advocate,  and  every  advocacy  should  inten- 
sify the  resolute  purpose  of  the  assailant.  Mr. 
Garrison  contended  that  slavery  was  a  sin,  and, 
because  a  sin,  should  be  instantly  abandoned.  His 
position  is  thus  defined  by  Mr.  Oliver  Johnson,  one 
of  his  friends  and  biographers  :  — 

Mr.  Garrison  had  learned  the  doctrine  of  immediatism 
from  Dr.  Beecher  himself.  The  very  keynote  of  the  re- 
vivals of  that  day,  in  which  the  Doctor  took  so  prominent 
a  part,  was  the  duty  of  every  sinner  to  repent  instantly 
and  give  his  heart  to  Christ ;  but  the  men  who  were  most 
eloquent  in  urging  this  doctrine  in  its  application  to  the 
sin  of  unbelief,  were  prompt  to  deny  it  in  its  application 
to  the  sin  of  slavery.  Sin  in  general  was  something  for 
which  there  could  be  no  apology  or  excuse,  but  the  par- 
ticular sin  of  treating  men  as  chattels  and  compelling 
them  to  work  without  wages  could  only  be  put  away,  if 
at  all,  by  a  process  requiring  whole  generations  for  its 


144  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

consummation !  Such  was  the  moral  blindness  of  the 
time  —  a  blindness  not  of  the  multitude  alone,  but  of 
the  professed  expounders  of  the  will  of  God.^ 

This  was  not  all.  If  slavery  was  a  sin,  so  Mr. 
Garrison  argued,  the  slaveholder  is  a  sinner.  The 
original  slaveholder  stole  the  slave  from  his  home 
in  Africa ;  he  was  a  man-stealer.  But  the  parti- 
cipant is  as  bad  as  the  thief ;  therefore  the  man 
who  took  the  slave  from  the  slave-dealer  is  him- 
self a  man-stealer.  But  a  thief  can  give  no  title 
to  his  goods ;  therefore  the  slave-owner,  who  in 
Georgia  or  South  Carolina  had,  two  centuries  after 
the  original  theft,  inherited  a  negro,  was  himself 
a  man-stealer.  He  ought  not,  so  Mr.  Garrison 
argued,  to  be  admitted  to  fellowship  in  any  church ; 
he  ought,  so  Mr.  Garrison  argued,  to  be  treated 
as  a  man-stealer,  and  no  more  socially  recognized 
than  any  other  thief.  The  proposition  for  grad- 
ual emancipation  Mr.  Garrison  vehemently  con- 
demned :  slavery  was  a  sin  to  be  instantly  broken 
off.  The  proposition  for  compensation  he  equally 
condemned  :  to  compensate  the  slaveholder,  he 
said,  is  to  pay  him  for  his  stolen  goods,  to  acknow- 
ledge that  his  crime  is  not  a  crime.  But  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  interposed  a  con- 
siderable obstacle  to  the  instant  and  immediate 
emancipation  of  the  slave.  The  Northern  States 
had  no  more  power  over  slavery  in  South  Carolina 

^  Oliver  Johuson  :  Life  and  Times  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
p.  45. 


PARENTHETICAL  145 

than  over  serfdom  in  Russia.  William  Lloyd  Gar- 
rison was  quite  ready  to  meet  this  constitutional 
argument.  He  found  in  the  Book  of  Isaiah  a  text 
which  he  thought  appropriate.  That  prophet  had 
declared  that  the  men  in  his  time  who  had  no  faith 
in  God  scoffed  at  the  divine  warnings  because  they 
had  made  a  covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement 
with  heU,  and  the  prophet  scornfully  affirmed  that 
such  covenant  with  death  and  agreement  with  hell 
would  be  annulled,  as  the  people  would  find  to 
their  cost.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  applied  this 
phrase  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
It  was,  he  said,  a  covenant  with  death  and  an 
agreement  with  hell;  let  us  away  with  it.  The 
Northern  States  were  responsible  for  the  sin  of 
slavery  because  they  allowed  themselves  to  remain 
in  partnership  with  the  slaveholders.  He  demanded 
the  instant  abolition  of  this  partnership  with  slave- 
holders by  the  secession  of  the  Northern  States 
from  the  Union. 

These  radical  and  uncompromising  principles 
were  put  forth  in  a  radical  and  uncompromising 
temper.  Whoever  did  not  agree  with  the  aboli- 
tionists, both  in  the  end  to  be  sought  and  in  the 
methods  to  be  pursued,  was  denounced  as  a  pro- 
slavery  man.  When  the  time  for  political  action 
came,  Frederick  Douglass,  himself  an  emancipated 
negro,  and  the  foremost  representative  of  his  race 
then,  as  Booker  T.  Washington  is  the  foremost 
representative  now,  withdrew  from  the  Abolition 
party,  to  vote  with  the  Liberty  party.     He  was 


146  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

instantly  scored  by  the  abolitionists  as  an  apostate 
and  renegade.  James  G.  Birney  was  nominated 
as  a  candidate  by  the  Liberty  party  on  a  platform 
demanding  that  there  should  be  no  further  exten- 
sion for  slavery.  He  was  instantly  denounced  as 
a  political  place-hunter.  Those  in  the  Church  of 
Christ  who  did  not  agree  with  the  radical  prin- 
ciples of  the  radical  abolitionists  came  in  for  a 
similar  denunciation.    Said  Mr.  Garrison  :  — 

"  Christianity  indignantly  rejects  the  sanctimonious 
pretensions  of  the  great  mass  of  the  clergy  in  our  land. 
It  is  becoming  more  and  more  apparent  that  they  are 
nothing  better  than  hirelings,  in  the  bad  sense  of  that 
term  —  that  they  are  blind  leaders  of  the  blind,  dumb 
dogs  that  cannot  bark,  spiritual  popes  —  that  they  love 
the  fleece  better  than  the  flock  —  that  they  are  mighty 
hindrances  to  the  march  of  human  freedom,  and  to  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  souls  of  men."  ^ 

It  is  perhaps  not  astonishing  that  ministers  so 
characterized  did  not  find  themselves  prompted  to 
march  in  company  with  the  leader  who  so  charac- 
terized them. 

Along  with  these  principles  and  this  temper,  it 
was  charged  upon  the  abolitionists  that  they  sought 
to  bring  about  the  instant  and  immediate  emanci- 
pation which  they  demanded  by  insurrectionary 
and  incendiary  methods.  That  charge  has  been 
denied.  Whether  true  or  false,  it  certainly  was  not 
without  ground.    Abolition  tracts  were  freely  cir- 

1  William  Lloyd  Garrison:  The  Story  of  his  Life,  Told  by  his 
Children,  vol.  ii.  p,  140. 


PARENTHETICAL  147 

culated  throughout  the  Southern  States  ;  pictures 
were  printed  upon  cheap  handkerchiefs,  such  as 
might  be  easily  circulated  among  the  slaves,  and 
were  sent  to  them  —  pictures,  the  only  effect  of 
which,  whatever  may  have  been  their  object,  must 
have  been  to  arouse  the  slaves  to  insurrection. 
The  notion  was  currently  entertained  that  the 
slave  population  was  restless,  discontented,  ready 
to  revolt,  kept  in  subjection  only  by  a  knowledge 
that  the  whole  resources  of  the  federal  government 
would  be  employed  to  put  the  insurrection  down. 
This  notion  attributed  to  the  negroes  a  knowledge 
which  they  did  not  possess  and  sentiments  which 
belong  to  a  much  higher  state  of  moral  devel- 
opment than  they  had  attained.  John  Brown's 
famous  raid  assumed  a  readiness  on  the  part  of 
the  slave  to  rise  in  revolt  if  the  opportunity  was 
afforded  him,  which  the  subsequent  history  of  the 
Civil  War  demonstrated  beyond  all  question  to  be 
wholly  lacking.  But  the  programme  as  well  as  the 
platform  of  the  abolitionists  took  for  granted  the 
existence  of  such  a  widespread  discontent  among 
the  negroes  of  the  South,  which  only  awaited  an 
opportunity  to  break  out  in  efficacious  revolt.  It 
is  not  the  only  case  in  history  in  which  reformers 
have  attributed  their  own  instincts  and  inclinations 
to  a  people  wholly  incapable  of  them. 

It  is  never  quite  fair  to  cite  single  paragraphs 
out  of  passionate  utterances  in  a  time  of  great 
excitement,  for  the  purpose  of  interpreting  the 
views  of  a  party,  a  faction,  or  a  leader,  since  in 


148  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

such  times  all  men  are  apt  to  say  what  in  cooler 
blood  they  would  modify.  But  the  careful  enun- 
ciation of  its  principles  by  a  party  may  be  justly 
taken  by  the  historian  as  a  true  interpretation  both 
of  its  purpose  and  its  spirit.  The  following  decla- 
ration of  principles  was  kept  standing  at  the  head 
of  the  columns  of  "  The  Liberator,"  the  official 
organ  of  the  radical  abolitionists  :  — 

AH  men  are  born  frfee  and  equal,  with  certain  natural, 
essential,  and  unalienable  rights  —  among  which  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 

Three  millions  of  the  American  people  are  in  chains 
and  slavery  —  held  as  chattels  personal,  and  bought  and 
sold  as  marketable  commodities. 

Seventy  thousand  infants,  the  offspring  of  slave 
parents,  kidnapped  as  soon  as  born,  and  permanently 
added  to  the  slave  population  of  Christian  (!),  Republi- 
can (  ! !  ),  Democratic  (!!!)  America  every  year. 

Immediate,  unconditional  emancipation. 

Slave-holders,  slave-traders,  and  slave-drivers  are  to 
be  placed  on  the  same  level  of  infamy,  and  in  the  same 
fiendish  category,  as  kidnappers  and  men-stealers  —  a 
race  of  monsters  unparalleled  in  their  assumption  of 
power,  and  their  despotic  cruelty. 

The  existing  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  a 
covenant  with  death,  and  an  agreement  with  hell. 

No  Union  with  Slave-holders !  ^ 

The  first  three  paragraphs  state  truly  enough, 
though  the  latter  of  the  three  is  inflammatory  rhet- 
oric, the  evils  of  American  slavery  as  it  existed  in 
1847  ;  the  other  four,  which  embody  the  remedy 

1  The  Liberator  of  January  1,  1847. 


PARENTHETICAL  149 

for  those  evils  which  the  abolitionists  proposed, 
were  each  one  of  them  false  ;  Mr.  Beecher  believed 
each  one  of  them  to  be  false. 

No  Union  with  slaveholders  was  not  a  sound 
principle  of  political  action.  Secession  from  the 
Union  was  neither  right  nor  expedient.  It  was  not 
right,  because  the  North  as  well  as  the  South  was 
responsible  for  the  existence  of  slavery ;  the  North 
as  well  as  the  South  had  entertained  and  maintained 
it ;  the  importation  of  slaves  was  carried  on  by 
New  England  shipping  merchants  and  defended 
by  New  England  representatives ;  and  when  the 
proposition  came  before  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention for  the  prohibition  of  the  slave-trade  New 
England  voted  for  the  clause  that  it  should  not  be 
abolished  until  1808.  Thus  the  North  shared  with' 
the  South  in  the  responsibility  for  the  sin  and  shame 
of  slavery,  and  it  had  no  right,  Pilate-like,  to  wash 
its  hands  and  say,  "  We  are  guiltless  of  this  matter." 
It  was  under  sacred  obligation  to  remain  in  the  part- 
nership and  work  for  the  renovation  of  the  nation. 
As  it  was  not  right,  so  neither  was  it  expedient. 
There  was  no  time  when  the  Middle  States  would 
have  thought  of  withdrawing  if  the  New  England 
states  had  followed  the  advice  of  Garrison  and 
Phillips.  If  they  had  followed  that  advice,  slavery 
would  almost  certainly  have  forced  itself  upon  the 
far  West,  as  it  attempted  to  do  upon  Kansas,  would 
probably  have  reentered  Indiana,  and  not  impos- 
sibly have  won  recognition  in  even  Ohio,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  New  York.    If  the  North  Atlantic 


150  HENRY   WARD  BEECHER 

States  had  followed  the  counsels  of  "  The  Liber- 
ator "  and  withdrawn  from  the  Union,  there  is  every 
probability  that  to-day  all  the  Southern  States,  and 
a  possibility  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
Western  States,  would  have  been  united  in  a  great 
slave  confederacy.  The  advice  of  the  abolitionists, 
if  followed,  would  not  have  abolished  slavery;  it 
woidd  have  established  slavery. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  United  States  Constitu- 
tion was  "  a  covenant  with  death  and  an  agreement 
with  hell."  It  had  some  serious  defects  —  the  most 
serious,  that  of  compromise  with  slavery,  which 
later  gave  birth  to  the  fugitive-slave  law ;  but  its 
excellencies  exceeded  its  defects.  It  was  a  noble 
instrument  of  freedom,  greater  than  any  other  that 
has  ever  been  framed  by  a  single  convention  or  in 
a  single  generation.  By  it  there  was  conferred 
upon  Congress  ample  power  to  put  such  restraint 
upon  slavery  as  would  eventually  bring  it  to  an 
end.  Under  the  Constitution  Congress  had  power 
to  abolish  the  slave-trade  and  that  power  had  been 
exercised.  It  had  power  to  put  restraints  upon 
the  interstate  slave-trade,  if  not  to  abolish  it  alto- 
gether; and  such  restriction  would  have  crippled 
slavery,  such  abolition  would  have  ultimately  de- 
stroyed it.  It  had  power  to  refuse  the  admission 
of  any  new  slave  state  into  the  Union  and  to  pro- 
hibit slavery  in  any  territory  of  the  United  States, 
the  exercise  of  which  power  would  have  put  slavery 
in  the  way  of  ultimate  extinction.  It  had  power, 
conferred  by  an  explicit  clause  of  the  Constitution, 


PARENTHETICAL  151 

to  protect  a  free  press  and  free  speech  in  every 
state  in  the  Union,  a  power  which,  had  it  been 
wisely  and  vigorously  exercised,  would  have  made 
possible  a  continuance  of  the  agitation  for  emanci- 
pation in  the  slave  states  themselves.  More  than 
all  this,  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  the  hot  debates 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  had  suggested 
that,  if  war  ever  broke  out,  slavery  could  be  abol- 
ished under  the  war  powers  which  the  Constitution 
confers.  His  utterance  was  prophetic,  and  slavery 
was  so  abolished.  The  Constitution  was  no  cove- 
nant with  death,  no  agreement  with  hell :  it  had 
in  it  all  the  vital  powers  necessary  for  the  imme- 
diate restriction  and  the  eventual  extinction  of 
slavery  on  the  American  Continent. 

The  slaveholder  was  not  a  man-stealer.  The  origi- 
nal slave-dealer  in  Africa  was ;  but  the  man  who 
found  himself  in  a  slave  state,  the  owner  of  slaves 
bequeathed  to  him  by  his  ancestors,  was  as  truly 
under  the  domination  of  the  slave  system  as  the 
slave  himself.  What  could  he  do?  Emancipate 
his  slaves?  In  one  state,  if  he  did  so,  a  tax  was 
laid  upon  the  emancipated  slave  for  the  very  pur- 
pose of  sending  him  back  into  slavery  again ;  in 
another  state,  if  he  did  so,  he  must  give  bonds  that 
the  slave  would  never  become  a  pauper,  or  the  act 
of  manumission  was  illegal ;  in  another  state,  he 
could  not  emancipate  him  legally  unless  he  carried 
him  out  of  the  state.  What  should  this  man  do, 
who  had  a  hundred  slaves  in  his  possession,  and 
no  money  with  which  to  provide  for  them  ?    Should 


152  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

he  set  his  slaves  free,  run  away  from  responsibility, 
and  leave  them  to  be  sold  again  at  the  auction 
block  to  the  highest  bidder  ?  This  in  many  cases 
would  have  been  the  result  of  "  immediate,  uncon- 
ditional emancipation,"  and  this  would  not  have 
been  liberation. 

It  was  therefore  not  true  that  immediate,  uncon- 
ditional emancipation  was  the  duty  of  the  hour.  It 
certainly  was  not  the  duty  of  the  Northern  readers 
of  '^  The  Liberator  :  "  they  had  no  more  political 
power  to  emancipate  the  slaves  in  the  Southern 
States  than  they  had  to  emancipate  the  slaves  in 
Turkey.  It  was  not  necessarily  the  duty  of  the 
individual  slaveholder:  if  he  undertook  immedi- 
ate, unconditional  emancipation,  he  would  in  many 
cases  only  pass  his  slave  from  one  state  of  servitude 
to  another  and  a  worse  state.  Whether  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  individual  state  must  at  least  be  gravely 
questioned.  When  a  great  wrong  has  been  done  by 
a  community,  and  has  been  wrought  into  the  social 
fabric  of  the  community,  it  cannot  be  abolished 
by  a  single  act  of  legislation.  When  an  individ- 
ual is  engaged  in  wrong-doing,  it  is  his  duty  im- 
mediately to  cease  wrong-doing ;  the  doctrine  of 
immediatism,  applied  by  Dr.  Beecher  to  the  indi- 
vidual, is  sound.  When  a  community  has  become 
pervaded  by  a  social  injustice  which  has  been 
wrought  into  its  very  structure,  it  is  not  always 
its  duty,  by  an  immediate  act  of  legislation,  to  de- 
stroy the  structure,  in  order  that  it  may  destroy  the 
evil ;  the  duty  of  immediatism,  applied  to  the  com- 


PARENTHETICAL  153 

munity  by  Mr.  Garrison,  was  unsound.  The  single- 
taxer  traces  land  ownership  back  to  robbery :  the 
Romans  stole  the  land  from  the  Europeans,  the 
Normans  from  the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  Anglo-Saxons 
from  the  Indians ;  therefore  the  single-taxer  pro- 
poses to  abolish  all  ownership  in  land.  Even  if  it 
be  true  that  all  land  ownership  is  a  kind  of  robbery, 
it  does  not  follow  that  it  ought  to  be  instantly 
abolished,  with  the  result  of  overturning  in  a  day 
the  whole  fabric  of  civilization  built  upon  the  pri- 
vate ownership  of  land.  No  man  ought  to  work 
twelve  hours  a  day  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
days  in  the  year,  with  no  opportunity  for  a  Sabbath 
or  a  holiday,  save  as  he  secures  it  sometimes  by 
working  eighteen  hours  a  day.  It  does  not  follow 
that  the  iron-master,  who  finds  himself  as  much 
under  the  domination  of  the  present  industrial  sys- 
tem as  the  iron-worker,  must  put  on  three  shifts, 
while  his  neighbors  are  working  with  two,  and 
bankrupt  himself,  or  must  close  his  mills  and  turn 
his  hands  out  to  starve.  It  is  true  that  slavery 
was  founded  on  man-stealing;  it  is  not  true  that 
the  best  remedy  for  slavery  was  immediate  and 
unconditional  abolition  of  the  slave  system,  without 
preparation  of  either  slave  or  society  for  a  better 
industrial  condition. 

The  doctrine  of  the  abolitionists,  summarized  in 
the  last  four  clauses  of  the  platform  published 
in  "  The  Liberator,"  Mr.  Beecher  never  accepted  ;  ,  ( 
he  was   not  an   abolitionist.    The   abolitionist   af-   f 
firmed,  "  No  union  with  slaveholders; "  Mr.  Beecher 


154  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

said,  "  We  shall  abide  by  the  Union."  ^  The  aboli- 
tionist denounced  the  Constitution  as  "  a  covenant 
with  death  and  an  agreement  with  hell ;  "  Mr. 
Beecher  affirmed,  "  We  believe  that  the  compro- 
mises of  the  Constitution  look  to  the  destruction 
of  slavery,  not  to  its  establishment."  ^  Abolitionists 
denounced  slaveholders  ''  as  a  race  of  monsters, 
unparalleled  in  their  assumption  of  power  and  their 
despotic  cruelty ; "  Mr.  Beecher  affirmed  that  both 
slave  and  master  "  are  to  be  treated  with  Chris- 
tian wisdom  and  forbearance :  we  must  seek  to 
benefit  the  slave  as  much  as  the  white  man,  the 
white  man  as  really  as  the  slave."  ^  The  abolition- 
ists demanded  "  immediate,  unconditional  emanci- 
pation ; "  Mr.  Beecher  said :  "We  do  not  ask  to 
interfere  with  the  internal  policy  of  a  single  state. 
.  .  .  We  will  not  ask  to  take  one  guarantee  from 
the  institution."  *  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Beecher  never 
fell  into  the  error  of  some  about  him  who  lost  the 
true  perspective.  He  never  imagined  that  aboli- 
tionism was  the  provoking  cause  of  the  pro-slavery 
spirit,  or  fancied  that  if  Garrison  and  Phillips 
could  be  silenced,  slavery  would  of  itself  pass  out 
of  existence.  He  never  imagined  that  abolition 
was  the  permanent  and  enduring  evil  to  be  fought, 
and  slavery  the  lesser  and  temporary  evil  to  be  con- 
doned.   He  never  turned  aside  from  the  work  of 


1  The  Independent,  Feb.  21,  1850:  Patriotic  Addresses,  p.  177. 
^  The  Independent,  Feb.  21,  1850:  Patriotic  Addresses,  p.  171. 
8  Oct.  30,  1859  :  Patriotic  Addresses,  p.  209. 
*  Biography :  p.  242. 


PARENTHETICAL  155 

arousing  the  public  conscience  of  the  North  to  do  its 
whole  duty  respecting  slavery,  in  order  to  enter 
into  a  war  of  words  with  men  who,  by  erroneous 
methods  and  in  an  unloving  spirit,  were  seeking 
the  same  ultimate  end  as  himself  —  the  enfran- 
chisement of  the  enslaved  race.  He  devoted  the 
strength  of  his  intellect,  the  power  of  his  pas- 
sion, the  play  of  his  humor,  the  keenness  of  his 
sarcasm,  his  vivid  imagination,  his  rhetorical  and 
elocutionary  power,  to  the  cause  of  freedom  ;  but 
he  believed  that  this  cause  of  freedom  was  best 
subserved  by  remaining  in  the  Union,  by  sustain- 
ing the  Constitution,  by  treating  slave  and  slave- 
owner alike  as  brother  men,  by  using  the  political 
power  of  the  nation  to  prevent  the  extension  of 
slavery  into  new  territory,  and  by  trusting  to  the 
moral  influence  of  persuasion  to  bring  about  its 
gradual  abolition  in  the  states  where  it  already 
existed.  In  his  anti-slavery  principles  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  was  at  one,  not  with  William  Lloyd  Gar- 
rison and  Wendell  Phillips,  but  with  James  G. 
Birney,  William  H.  Seward,  Sahnon  P.  Chase, 
Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  not  what  he  has  some- 
times been  called  —  an  abolitionist ;  he  was  an 
anti-slavery  reformer,  working  within  the  Consti- 
tution, under  the  law,  by  practical  methods.  This 
general  definition  of  his  position  must  be  borne 
in  mind  by  the  reader,  if  he  would  understand 
correctly  the  history  of  the  events  in  which  Mr. 
Beecher  took  part,  and  of  his  participation  in  them, 
as  recorded  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE    ANTI-SLAVERY   REFORMER 

Mr.  Beecher's  first  participation  in  any  public 
discussion  of  the  slavery  question  was  in  Amherst 
College.    He  was  chosen  one  of  the  disputants  in 
the  college  debating    society.     The   question   for 
discussion  was  African  colonization,  a  chimerical 
scheme,  then  new,  for  solving  the  slavery  question 
by   transporting    the    negroes    back    to    Africa. 
"Fortunately,"   he  says  in   his  sermon  upon  the 
death  of  Wendell  Phillips,  "  I  was  assigned  to  the 
negative   side   of  the   question.     In   preparing  to 
speak   I    prepared    my    whole    life.    I    contended 
against  colonization  as  a  condition  of  emancipation 
—  enforced  colonization  was  little  better  than  en- 
forced slavery  —  and  advocated  immediate  eman- 
cipation on  the  broad  ground  of  human  rights." 
His  next  public  service  in   the  anti-slavery  cause 
was  in  Cincinnati,  where,  while  a  student  at  Lane 
Seminary,  he  showed  his  enthusiasm  by  volunteer- 
ing as  a  special  constable,  and  patrolling  the  streets 
to  protect  the  negroes  and  their  friends  when  pro- 
slavery  riots  broke  out  in  the  city.     There   is  no 
record  of  his  speaking  on  this  subject  at  Lawrence- 
burg. 

In  Indianapolis  his  method  of  dealing  with  the 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  157 

topic  was  characteristic  of  his  combined  courage 
and  caution.  In  a  campaign  the  wise  leader,  when 
considering  what  to  do,  takes  counsel  of  courage  ; 
when  considering  how  to  do  it,  takes  counsel  of 
caution.  In  Indianapolis  there  was  little  hostility 
to  slavery,  and  bitter  hostility  to  abolitionism. 
Had  Mr.  Beecher  begun  his  ministry  by  an  attack 
on  slavery,  his  ministry  would  have  ended  on  the 
day  on  which  it  began.  For  some  years,  apparently, 
he  did  not  deal  with  the  question  directly.  His 
first  reference  to  it  was  incidental  and  by  way  of 
illustration.  He  pictured  a  father  ransoming  his 
son  from  captivity  among  the  Algerines  in  such  a 
way  as  to  enlist  the  sympathy  of  his  hearers  with 
the  white  slave  against  the  negro  slaveholders. 
"  They  all  thought,"  he  afterwards  told  the  Yale 
theological  students,  "  I  was  going  to  apply  it  [the 
illustration]  to  slavery ;  but  I  did  not.  I  applied 
it  to  my  subject,  and  it  passed  off  :  and  they  all 
drew  a  long  breath.  It  was  not  long  before  I  had 
another  illustration  from  that  quarter.  And  so,  be- 
fore I  had  been  there  a  year,  I  had  gone  all  over 
the  sore  spots  of  slavery,  in  illustrating  the  subjects 
of  Christian  experience  and  doctrine.  It  broke 
the  ice."  It  was  not  until  toward  the  close  of  his 
Indianapolis  ministry  that  he  preached  directly  on 
slavery.  He  did  so  in  compliance  with  a  recom- 
mendation by  the  Presbytery  to  all  Presbyterian 
clergy  to  preach  at  least  one  sermon  during  the 
year  on  this  theme.  Mr.  Beecher  preached  three : 
in  the  first,  discussing  ancient  slavery,  especially 


158  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

among  the  Hebrews  ;  in  the  second,  the  doctrine 
and  practice  of  the  New  Testament  respecting 
slavery ;  in  the  third,  the  moral  aspects  of  Ameri- 
can slavery  and  its  effects  upon  the  community. 
One  of  these  sermons  was  published  in  pamplilet 
form,  but  is  out  of  print.  We  may  assume  that  in 
them  was  embodied  his  subsequent  teaching,  in 
which  he  drew  sharply  the  distinction  between  Ro- 
man and  Hebraic  slavery,  and  showed  that  the  ex- 
istence of  the  latter  afforded  no  justification  for  the 
former,  so  gi-eat  was  the  difference  between  the  two. 
When  he  came  to  Brooklyn  the  conditions  in 
which  he  found  himself  were  very  different  from 
those  which  he  confronted  in  Indianapolis.  He 
was  the  pastor  of  a  church  just  organized.  Its 
character  and  spirit  would  depend  largely  upon 
his  ministry.  The  men  who  had  organized  this 
church  were  of  New  England  origin,  and  enter- 
tained New  England  convictions  respecting  the  sin 
and  shame  of  slavery.  The  year  after  he  came 
to  Brooklyn  "  The  New  York  Independent "  was 
founded.  Its  three  editors.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon, 
Dr.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  and  Dr.  Richard  S. 
Storrs,  were  all  pronounced  anti-slavery  men  ;  two 
of  its  founders,  Seth  B.  Hunt  and  Henry  C. 
Bowen,  were  among  the  founders  of  Plymouth 
Church.  How  free  a  platform  Mr.  Beecher  was 
to  have  in  Plymouth  Church  depended,  there- 
fore, primarily  upon  himself.  In  his  first  Sunday 
evening  sermon  he  declared  his  intention  to  apply 
the  principles  of  Jesus  Christ  to  intemperance,  to 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY   REFORMER  159 

slavery,  and  to  all  other  great  national  sins ;  and 
it  was  his  custom  thereafter  each  year,  before  the 
pew-renting,  to  preach  a  vigorous  anti-slavery  ser- 
mon, that  not  only  the  members  of  his  church,  but 
his  pewholders  also,  might  know  what  kind  of  a 
gospel  they  were  invited  to  support.  Thus,  partly 
by  reason  of  his  circumstances,  partly  by  reason 
of  his  courage  in  availing  himself  of  them,  Mr. 
Beecher  avoided  the  peril  wliich  confronted  so 
many  ministers  in  that  epoch,  who  could  not  speak 
upon  the  subject  of  slavery  without  stirring  up, 
not  only  hostility  to  themselves,  but  possible  intes- 
tine warfare  within  the  church,  and  as  a  probable 
result  either  their  own  expulsion  from  the  pastor- 
ate or  the  departure  from  their  church  and  con- 
gregation of  some  of  their  eminent  and  perhaps 
necessary  supporters.  Throughout  the  campaign 
of  which  we  are  to  give  some  account  in  this  and 
the  succeeding  chapter,  Mr.  Beecher  was  supported 
by  a  substantially  unanimous  and  generally  enthu- 
siastic church  and  congregation. 

Nevertheless,  for  the  first  two  years  Mr.  Beecher's 
main  work  in  Brooklyn  was  that  of  a  parochial 
pastor  and  preacher.  He  gave  himself  to  the  work 
of  building  up  his  church  by  his  spiritual  ministry 
to  the  congregations  which  were  attracted  to  it. 
Like  a  wise  general,  he  organized  and  inspired  his 
army  before  he  began  his  campaign.  The  burning 
of  the  original  church  building,  necessitating  the 
erection  of  the  new  one,  added  to  the  difficulties  inci- 
dent to  a  new  pastorate,  and  increased  his  parochial 


160  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

labors.  Six  months  of  illness,  during  which  time 
he  was  forbidden  to  preach,  interposed  another  and 
a  serious  obstacle  to  his  ministry.  Despite  these 
facts,  the  church  had  grown  at  the  close  of  the 
year  1849,  that  is,  in  less  than  two  years  and  a 
half,  from  twenty-one  members  to  three  hundred 
and  twenty-seven.  The  church  was  stronger  than 
the  number  of  its  membership  would  indicate,  for 
it  was  thoroughly  loyal  to  its  leader,  and  was  full 
of  enthusiasm  for  its  work. 

During  these  two  years  and  a  half  the  act  which 
most  distinctly  identified  Mr.  Beecher  in  the  public 
mind  with  the  anti- slavery  cause  was  the  dramatic 
conduct  of  an  auction  sale  of  two  negro  girls,  pur- 
chased, as  the  result  of  the  sale,  for  freedom.  These 
two  young  women,  of  light  complexion,  but  born  of 
a  slave  mother,  finding  themselves  about  to  be  sold 
from  Washington  for  exportation  to  New  Orleans, 
and  probably  for  a  fate  more  dreadful  than  death, 
endeavored  to  escape,  were  captured,  and  brought 
back  to  Washington.  The  story  of  their  attempted 
flight  reached  Northern  ears  ;  a  meeting  was  held 
in  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  the  necessary  funds  for  their  emancipation  ; 
the  young  preacher  from  the  West  was  one  of  the 
speakers  ;  he  extemporized  on  the  platform  a  slave 
auction  and  called  for  bids ;  the  necessary  amount 
was  secured  ;  and  the  girls  were  pronounced  freed 
before  the  meeting  adjourned.  This  was  the  first 
of  a  series  of  similar  purchases  of  slaves,  through 
Mr.  Beecher's  instrumentality,  during  a  period  of 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  161 

ten  or  twelve  years.  He  was  criticised  by  radical 
abolitionists  for  wasting  his  energies  in  the  eman- 
cipation of  a  few  individuals,  while  the  great  slave 
empire  was  left  undisturbed  ;  by  others,  for  his 
recognition  of  the  right  of  the  owner  to  his  slaves 
by  paying  money  to  the  owner  for  their  manumis- 
sion ;  and  by  still  others,  more  anxious  that  all 
things  should  be  done  decorously  and  in  order  than 
that  anything  should  be  done  at  all,  for  sensation- 
alism in  his  methods.  But  Mr.  Beecher's  object 
was  not  merely  the  manumission  of  a  few  individ- 
ual slaves  :  he  believed  in  the  humanity  of  his  fel- 
low men  ;  he  believed  that  thousands  of  his  fellow 
citizens,  who  would  regard  with  apathy  if  not  with 
complacency  the  slave  system  at  a  distance,  woidd 
regard  with  abhorrence  the  return  of  an  individual 
slave  girl  to  a  life  of  enforced  sin  and  shame.  At 
a  later  period  he  said :  "  The  very  men  who  give 
their  counsel  and  zeal  and  money  against  the  unseen 
slave  of  the  South  irresistibly  pity  the  particular 
fugitive  whom  they  may  see  running  through  the 
North.  They  give  the  Union  Committee  money  to 
catch  the  slave,  and  give  the  slave  money  to  escape 
from  the  Committee."  He  judged  that  in  no  way 
coidd  he  so  successfully  arouse  the  dormant  feeling 
of  the  North  against  the  slave  system  as  by  invit- 
ing the  cooperation  of  Northern  men  and  women 
to  secure  the  emancipation  of  individual  slaves. 
Had  he  been  inclined  to  defend  Ms  method  from 
those  who  criticised  it  as  sensational,  he  might 
have  referred  them  to  the  method  of  the  Hebrew 


162  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

prophets,  who  taught  so  often  and  so  effectually 
by  dramatic  object-lessons. 

But  such  utterances  as  his  first  Sunday  evening 
sermon,  in  1847,  and  such  acts  as  the  purchase  of 
the  Edmondson  girls,  in  1848,  were  but  like  the 
tuning  of  the  instruments  before  the  s5rmphony,  or 
the  testing  of  the  arms  before  the  beginning  of  the 
battle.  In  the  best  sense  of  the  term  Mr.  Beecher 
was  an  opportunist.  He  spoke,  not  like  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson,  merely  to  declare  himself,  —  he 
spoke  always  for  a  purpose  ;  his  speech  was  always 
addressed  to  an  audience,  and  always  for  the  pur- 
pose of  convincing  it.  He  watched,  therefore,  for 
his  opportunity,  seized  it  when  it  came,  adjusted 
his  address  to  the  occasion,  and  thus  enhanced 
its  effectiveness.  His  opportunity  came  with  the 
introduction  of  the  compromise  measures  into  Con- 
gress by  Henry  Clay,  in  January,  1850,  the  same 
month  in  which  Plymouth  Church  entered  into 
its  new  building.  The  object  of  these  compromise 
measures  was  to  readjust  the  relations  between  the 
North  and  the  South  ;  to  put  an  end  to  the  grow- 
ing separation  between  them  and  heal  the  breach 
which  already  existed ;  and  to  do  this  on  the  basis 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  a  series 
of  mutual  concessions.  The  sincerity  of  Henry 
Clay's  patriotic  purpose  will  not  be  doubted  by 
the  impartial  student  of  history.  He  was  seventy- 
three  years  of  age ;  he  had  recently  embraced  the 
Christian  religion  ;  the  beginnings  of  his  speech 
on  the  compromise  resolutions  indicated  not  only 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  163 

the  seriousness  of  his  mind  but  the  religious  spirit 
which  animated  him. 

The  compromise  resolutions  included  eight  pro- 
positions, part  of  them  concessions  to  the  North, 
part  of  them  to  the  South :  The  admission  of  Cali- 
fornia with  her  free  constitution,  a  concession  to 
the  North  ;  no  restriction  as  to  slavery  in  the  terri- 
torial governments  to  be  established  by  Congress 
in  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico,  a  conces- 
sion to  the  South.  A  declaration  that  it  is  inexpe- 
dient to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colimibia 
without  compensation  and  without  the  consent  of 
the  state  of  Maryland  and  the  people  of  the  Dis- 
trict, a  concession  to  the  South  ;  prohibition  of  the 
slave-trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  conces- 
sion to  the  North.  More  effectual  provision  for  the 
rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  a  concession  to  the 
South ;  a  declaration  that  Congress  has  no  power 
to  interfere  with  the  slave-trade  between  the  states, 
a  concession  to  the  South.  On  the  whole,  the 
North  had  a  right  to  think  that  the  concessions 
to  the  South  not  only  were  greater  in  number  but 
greater  in  importance  than  the  concessions  to  the 
North;  nevertheless,  if  the  issue  between  North 
and  South  was  one  to  be  adjusted  by  mutual  con- 
cessions, the  compromise  measures  were  in  the 
main  well  conceived. 

The  ablest  argument  for  these  measures,  from 
the  Northern  side,  is  that  presented  by  Daniel 
Webster  in  his  famous  speech  of  the  7th  of  March, 
1850.    It  is  not  necessary  here  to  pass  upon  his 


164  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

motives ;  they  were  probably  mixed,  as  the  motives 
of  most  men  are  ;  in  my  judgment,  there  is  no  just 
ground  for  saying,  with  Von  Hoist,  that  it  "  was  a 
candidate's  speech,  and  that  its  chief  object  was  to 
win  favor  of  the  South."  The  Union  and  the  Con- 
stitution were  Daniel  Webster's  idol.  He  knew  no 
higher  end  in  life  than  to  maintain  the  Union, 
no  higher  law  for  political  action  than  the  Constitu- 
tion. With  prescience  greater  than  that  of  his 
critics,  he  foresaw  the  terrible  results  to  the  coun- 
try if  the  growing  antagonism  between  North  and 
South  was  not  allayed  and  the  growing  breach  was 
not  healed.  There  must  be  either  a  reestablish- 
ment  of  the  Union  or  war  between  North  and 
South.  Events  proved  him  to  be  wiser  in  this  pro- 
phetic judgment  than  his  assailants.  The  argument 
for  the  compromise  measures,  from  the  jjoint  of 
view  of  one  who  feared  civil  war  between  the  sec- 
tions, and  who  recognized  no  higher  law  than  that 
of  the  Constitution,  and  no  higher  ideal  than  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  can  be  easily  summa- 
rized in  a  few  words.  The  Constitution  was  itself  a 
succession  of  compromises.  Political  life  is  possible 
only  on  the  basis  of  a  succession  of  compromises. 
The  objections  of  the  North  to  the  compromise  mea- 
sures were  not  well  considered.  The  absence  of  re- 
striction as  to  slavery  in  New  Mexico  would  do  no 
harm,  since  slavery  could  never  be  maintained  in  a 
territory  where  tobacco,  corn,  cotton,  and  rice  could 
not  be  raised,  and  where  the  land  could  be  made 
fertile  only  by  irrigation.    To  prohibit  slavery  in 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER   ,      165 

New  Mexico  was  only  "  to  reenact  the  will  of  God." 
Mr.  Webster  declared  himself  ready  to  assert  the 
principle  of  the  exclusion  of  slavery  whenever  ne- 
cessary, but  he  would  not  do  a  thing  unnecessarily 
that  wounds  the  feelings  of  others.  He  contended 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  North,  under  the  Con- 
stitution, not  only  to  allow  but  to  provide  the 
means  for  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  that 
the  South  justly  complained  that  the  constitutional 
duty  of  the  North  in  this  respect  had  not  been  ful- 
filled. 

The  speech  was  received  with  an  outburst  of 
bitter  wrath  by  the  anti-slavery  reformers  of  New 
England.  Webster  was  called  "  a  recreant  sou  of 
Massachusetts,"  "  a  fallen  star  —  Lucifer  descend- 
ing from  Heaven  ;  "  his  speech,  "  a  blow  struck  at 
freedom  and  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  free 
states  which  no  Southern  arm  could  have  given ;  " 
comparable  to  no  deed  in  American  history  done 
by  a  son  of  New  England  "  but  the  act  of  Bene- 
dict Arnold  ;  "  to  be  estimated  only  "  as  a  bid  for 
the  presidency."  What  was  then  regarded  as  the 
sober  second  thought  of  New  England  did  not  sus- 
tain these  reproaches ;  his  old  friends  came  to  his 
rescue  ;  and  presently  the  7th  of  March  speech 
came  to  be  recognized  as  the  representative  utter- 
ance of  the  overwhehning  majority  in  the  North, 
who,  with  Webster,  reverenced  the  Union,  recog- 
nized the  Constitution  as  the  supreme  standard  for 
political  action,  dreaded  a  civil  war,  which  they  re- 
garded as  among  the  possibilities  of  a  near  future, 


16G  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

and  believed  that  the  issues  between  North  and 
South  could  be  adjusted  by  mutual  concessions. 

In  estimating  the  public  sentiment  of  the  time, 
the  reader  must  recall,  not  merely  the  definite  ar- 
gument of  a  Clay  and  a  Webster  in  favor  of  the 
compromise  measures,  but  the  indefinite  feelings  of 
the  community  which  lay  below  all  such  arguments. 
The  slave  was  property.  It  might  indeed  be  argued 
that  he  ought  not  to  be,  but  in  fact  he  was  ;  eman- 
cipation would  mean  the  financial  ruin  of  unnum- 
bered thousands  who  had  invested  their  all  in  this 
property,  which  was  impliedly  secured  to  them  by 
the  Constitution  and  explicitly  secured  to  them 
by  law.  The  Constitution  was  the  noblest  document 
struck  off  by  the  mind  of  man  in  a  single  epoch, 
the  basis  of  the  national  organization,  the  secret  of 
their  growth,  the  hope  of  their  future  ;  abolitionism 
condemned  the  Constitution  as  "a  covenant  with 
death  and  an  agreement  with  hell."  The  union  of 
the  states  had  given  peace  and  prosperity  to  mil- 
lions, and  if  it  were  preserved  would  give  peace  and 
prosperity  to  millions  more;  if  it  were  dissolved 
the  hope  of  democracy  would  perish  from  the  earth. 
No  one  could  estimate  the  world's  loss  in  such  a 
catastrophe ;  no  one  could  be  sure  that  it  would 
bring  any  real  gain  even  to  the  negro.  The  sacred 
rights  of  property,  the  sacred  Constitution,  the 
sacred  Union  which  that  Constitution  created  and 
conserved  were  all  in  peril ;  abolitionism  threat- 
ened them  all ;  compromise  alone  coidd  save  them : 
such  was  the  argument,  and  it  carried  conviction 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY   REFORMER         167 

to  the  hearts  of  the  great  majority  of  patriotic  citi- 
zens, and  made  many  who  loved  botli  liberty  and 
their  fellow  men  hesitate  at  action  the  issue  of 
which  in  its  effects  on  both  no  man  could  foresee. 

Such  were  the  political  conditions,  although  the 
7th  of  March  speech  had  not  then  been  dehvered, 
when  Mr.  Beecher  wrote  and  published  in  "  The 
Independent  "  an  editorial  whose  title  indicated  his 
denial  of  the  fundamental  principle  underlying  the 
compromise  measures.  The  article  was  entitled 
"  Shall  we  compromise  ?  "  In  this  article  the  im- 
possibility of  compromise  is  affirmed  with  eloquent 
fervor.  "  Slavery  is  right,  and  slavery  is  wrong ; 
slavery  shall  live,  slavery  shall  die;  slavery  shall 
extend,  slavery  shall  not  extend:  are  these  con- 
flicts to  be  settled  by  any  mode  of  parceling  out 
certain  territories?  Now  the  battle  rages  at  one 
point.  By  and  by  it  wiU  rage  at  another.  These 
oppugnant  elements,  slavery  and  liberty,  inherent 
in  our  political  system,  animating  our  Constitution, 
checkering  our  public  policy,  breeding  in  statesmen 
opposite  principles  of  government,  and  making  our 
whole  wisdom  of  public  legislation  on  many  of  the 
greatest  questions  cross-eyed  and  contradictory,  — 
these  elements  are  seeking  each  other's  life.  One 
or  the  other  must  die."  Thus,  denying  at  the  out- 
set the  fimdamental  postitlate  of  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr. 
Webster,  Mr.  Beecher  proceeded  to  contrast  the 
two  theories,  the  Northern,  or  democratic,  the 
Southern,  or  aristocratic,  their  birth,  their  growth, 
their  inevitable  results.     The   North   puts   honor 


168  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

upon  its  laborers,  who  become  reading  and  reflect- 
ing men ;  the  South  makes  labor  a  disgraceful  ne- 
cessity, denying  it  education  and  compelling  it  by 
the  lash.  "Liberty  is  a  universal  right  —  it  be- 
longs to  men^  on  the  one  side  ;  it  is  a  privilege,  and 
belongs  to  a  class ^  on  the  other  side."  "  The  North 
compacts,  the  South  stratifies."  He  recognized  the 
fact  that  the  possibilities  of  both  systems  were  in 
the  Constitution,  but  they  were  there  only  in  the 
seed.  The  compromises  of  the  Constitution  were 
adopted  in  the  exjDcctation  that  slavery  would  be 
eradicated  by  the  superior  vitality  of  liberty.  Those 
compromises  "  looked  to  the  destruction  of  slavery, 
and  not  to  its  establishment."  But  slavery  had  ac- 
quired a  new  growth  and  a  new  power.  The  agita- 
tions which  disturbed  the  community  were  not  due 
to  the  abolitionists ;  they  were  due  to  the  exist- 
ence of  these  two  irreconcilable  systems.  The  South 
has  "  found  out  that  slavery  cannot  live  and  stand 
still."  It  therefore  demands  room  for  extension ; 
"  for  every  Free  state  a  state  for  Slavery ;  one  dark 
orb  must  be  swimg  into  its  orbit,  to  grow  and  tra- 
vail in  pain,  for  every  new  orb  of  liberty  over 
which  the  morning  stars  shall  sing  for  joy."  "No 
compromises  can  help  us  which  dodge  the  ques- 
tion; certainly  none  which  settle  it  for  slavery." 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  North  "  openly,  firmly,  and 
forever  to  refuse  to  slavery  another  inch  of  terri- 
tory, and  to  see  that  it  never  gets  any  by  fraud." 
"  It  is  her  duty  to  declare  that  she  will  under  no 
considerations  be  a  party  to  any  further  inhumanity 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  169 

and  injustice."  Mr.  Clay's  resolutions  demanded 
better  provision  for  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves. 
Mr.  Beecher  did  not  deny  that  such  provisions  are 
called  for  by  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution, 
but  he  declared  that  there  is  a  higher  law  than  the 
Constitution.  "  Not  even  the  Constitution  shall 
make  me  unjust."  "  I  put  constitution  against 
constitution  —  God's  against  man's.  Where  they 
agree,  they  are  doubly  sacred ;  where  they  differ, 
my  reply  to  all  questioners,  but  especially  to  all 
timid  Christian  scruples,  is  in  the  language  of 
Peter :  '  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God 
to  hearken  unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge 
ye.'  "  As  there  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitu- 
tion, so  there  is  a  higher  ideal  than  the  Union. 
"  The  very  value  of  our  Union  is  to  be  found  in 
those  principles  of  justice,  liberty,  and  humanity 
which  inspire  it."  If  "these  principles  must  be 
yielded  up  to  preserve  the  Union,  then  a  corpse 
only  will  be  left  in  our  arms,  deflowered,  lifeless, 
wortliless."  "  Keligion  and  humanity  are  a  price 
too  dear  to  pay  even  for  the  Union ; "  and  religion 
and  humanity  are  set  at  naught  by  slavery,  which 
takes  liberty  from  those  to  whom  God  gave  it,  for- 
bids food  for  the  understanding  or  the  heart,  takes 
honesty  from  the  conscience,  and  defense  from  vir- 
tue, "  gives  authority  into  the  hands  of  lustful  or 
pecimiary  cupidity,  scorns  the  family,  and  invades 
it  whenever  desire  or  the  want  of  money  prevails, 
with  the  same  coolness  with  which  a  drover  singles 
out  a  heifer,  or  a  butcher  strikes  down  a  bullock. 


170  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

These  are  not  the  accidents  of  slavery ;  they  are  its 
legitimate  fruits,  they  are  its  vitality.  If  you  stop 
these  evils  you  will  destroy  the  system."  The  arti- 
cle closes  with  a  declaration  of  war  against  slavery. 
"  We  shall  study  to  circumscribe  slavery  where  it 
now  exists.  We  shall  oppose  every  party  that  se- 
cretly or  openly  connives  at  it.  We  shall  be  hostile 
to  every  measure  which  consults  its  interests.  .  .  . 
We  will  compromise  any  measures  tending  to  pre- 
vent the  extension  of  slavery.  We  will  compromise 
as  to  the  particulars  of  its  death,  laying  out,  and 
burial.  But  every  compromise  must  include  the 
advantage  of  liberty  and  the  disadvantage  of 
slavery."  "We  shall  abide  by  the  Union.  .  .  . 
If  there  be  those  who  cannot  abide  the  Union,  be- 
cause it  is  pure  and  religious,  just  and  humane,  let 
them  beware  of  that  tumultuous  scene  into  which 
they  purpose  to  leap."  But  he  does  not  believe 
that  any  such  issue  will  result.  "  Firnmess  is  the 
remedy  for  threats.  If  good  men,  having  good 
representatives,  are  but  firm,  the  storm  will  beat 
the  stout  oak  and  rage  like  a  demon  through  its 
twisted  branches,  but  pass  on  and  spend  itself  in 
the  wilderness  ;  meanwhile  the  returning  sun  shall 
find  the  noble  tree  unwrecked  and  fast-rooted." 

It  is  said  that  this  article  was  read  to  John  C. 
Callioun,  then  on  his  death-bed,  that  he  asked  the 
name  of  the  author,  and  said  :  "  That  man  under- 
stands the  thing ;  he  has  gone  to  the  bottom  of  it ; 
he  will  be  heard  from  again."  It  is  because  in  this 
article  Mr.  Beecher  did  go  to  the  bottom  of  the 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  171 

questions  involved  in  the  compromise  measures  that 
we  have  given  its  substance  at  so  great  length.  In 
it  he  anticipated  by  three  weeks  William  H.  Sew- 
ard's declaration  that  there  is  a  higher  law  than 
the  Constitution,  and  by  nearly  ten  years  Abraham 
Lincoln's  declaration  that  there  is  an  irreconcilable 
conflict  between  slavery  and  liberty  ;  in  it  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  the  Republican  party  were  I 
asserted  six  years  before  the  Republican  party  was 
organized,  and  ten  years  before  it  elected  Abraham 
Lincoln  upon  a  platform  embodying  those  princi- 
ples. In  it  were  contained  in  compact  statement 
substantially  aU  for  which  its  author  was  to  con- 
tend through  the  ten  years  of  incessant  campaign- 
ing which  preceded  the  Civil  War. 

There  is  no  advantage  in  treating  Mr.  Beecher's 
views  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  from  this  time  for- 
ward, in  any  chronological  order,  because  there  was 
in  those  views  no  chronological  development.  He 
did  not  speak  on  the  subject  of  slavery  until  he 
had  studied  it  in  its  various  relations,  well  consid- 
ered its  various  aspects,  and  determined  what  his 
message  should  be  concerning  the  whole  subject, 
and  all  the  questions  that  would  be  likely  to  grow 
out  of  it.  In  this  respect  he  set  an  example  which 
ministers  in  haste  to  speak  on  the  social  questions 
of  our  time  would  do  well  to  follow.  His  posi- 
tion on  the  complicated  questions  involved  will  be 
better  interpreted  by  giving  them  topically  than 
by  giving  them  chronologically.  In  doing  this 
I  depend  largely  upon  the  volume  of  "  Patriotic 


/ 

172  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Addresses,"  in  which  John  K.  Howard  has  brought 
together  the  most  important  of  Mr.  Beecher's  pub- 
lic speeches  on  slavery,  the  Civil  War,  and  recon- 
struction. 

I.  The  apologists  for  and  defenders  of  Ameri- 
can slavery  Mr.  Beecher  met  with  a  clear  definition 
of  the  American  system  and  a  scholarly  discrimi- 
nation of  it  from  Hebrew  slavery.  The  American 
slave  was  a  chattel ;  he  was  the  property  of  his 
master.  The  end  of  the  system  was  judicially  de- 
clared to  be  "  the  profit  of  the  master,  his  security, 
and  the  public  peace."  The  slave  was  judicially 
defined  to  be  "one  doomed  in  his  own  person 
and  in  his  posterity  to  live  without  knowledge,  and 
without  capacity  to  make  anything  his  own,  and  to 
toil  that  others  may  reap  the  fruits."  The  sys- 
tem forbade  marriage  and  legalized  and  promoted 
lust.  "  A  wedding  among  this  unhappy  people  is 
but  a  name,  —  a  mere  form  to  content  their  con- 
science or  their  love  of  imitating  their  superiors. 
Every  auctioneer  in  the  community  has  the  power 
to  put  asunder  whom  God  has  joined.  The  de- 
generacy of  their  owner  is  the  degeneracy  of  the 
marriage  relation  in  half  the  slaves  on  his  planta- 
tion." Such  a  system  as  this  Mr.  Beecher  declared 
to  be  incapable  of  reformation.  "  To  say  to  three 
million  men  made  by  God,  '  Ye  are  not  men,  but 
like  oxen  and  horses,  like  dogs  and  hogs,  ye  are 
things,  property,  chattels,'  —  why,  to  talk  of  the 
abuse  of  a  system  which  has  this  for  its  elementary 
principle  is  as  wild  as  it  would  be  to  talk  of  the 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  173 

abuse  of  robbery,  the  abuse  of  murder,  the  abuse 
of  adultery.'  "  There  was  nothing  in  the  Hebrew 
system  of  slavery  to  afford  justification  for  the 
American  system.  Among  the  Hebrews  there  were 
three  forms  of  servitude.  First,  that  into  which 
the  Hebrews  themselves  might  come  —  a  kind  of 
apprenticeship.  Secondly,  a  public  slavery ;  that 
of  the  Gibeonites,  who  did  service  for  the  common- 
wealth. Thirdly,  the  Hebrew  bond-service,  which 
was  slavery  proper.  This  slavery  was  not  enacted 
by  Moses.  He  found  it  and  he  regulated  it  and 
limited  it.  Only  a  heathen  could  be  made  a  slave. 
As  a  condition  of  his  enslavement  he  must  be  cir- 
cmncised,  that  is,  introduced  into  the  privilege  of 
the  Church,  and  the  master  was  obliged  to  give  him 
a  religious  education  ;  if  he  was  wronged,  he  could 
apply  to  the  courts  for  redress ;  if  he  was  maimed, 
he  immediately  became  free  ;  if  he  ran  away,  he 
could  not  be  forcibly  returned.  "  All  the  laws  of 
Moses  were  in  favor  of  the  slave  —  for  his  ad- 
vantage, his  benefit,  his  encouragement,  his 
defense." 

The  Hebrews  legislated  for  their  slaves  as  men,  but 
we  make  them  property  —  chattels.  They  are  not  men 
but  brutes.  Four  thousand  years  ago  the  slave  enjoyed 
the  privileges  of  the  Church  —  the  Temple  worship ; 
now  we  give  him  no  religion.  Four  thousand  years  ago 
the  slave  enjoyed  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  family 
state ;  now  the  chastity  of  man  and  woman  is  no  more 
regarded  than  that  of  a  dog.  Four  thousand  years  ago 
the  laws  were  made  for  the  slave  ;  now  they  are  made 
for  the  master.    Four  thousand  vears  ago  a  slave  could 


174  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

seek  redress  in  court ;  now  there  is  not  a  court  from 
Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  through  to  Texas  where  a  slave 
can  open  his  mouth  as  a  witness  and  be  believed.  Ah ! 
if  you  will  only  bring  American  slavery  on  the  platform 
of  Hebrew  slavery  —  if  you  will  give  the  slave  the  Bible, 
and  send  him  to  school,  and  open  the  doors  of  the  courts 
to  him,  then  we  will  let  it  alone  —  it  will  take  care  of 
itself.  In  old  times  slaves  were  treated  as  children  of  a 
family,  trained,  nurtured,  educated.  Let  the  Southern 
slaveholder  do  like  this.  Then  would  slavery  soon  cease, 
for  the  care  and  expense  would  be  greater  than  any  one 
could  bear.^ 

II.  Between  this  slave  system  of  the  South  and 
the  free  system  of  the  North  compromise  was  im- 
possible. The  policy  of  the  South  was  not  one  of 
vexatious  haughtiness ;  it  sprang  from  the  irresist- 
ible nature  of  their  industrial  system.  If  their 
aggressive  temper  were  due  to  violence  provoked  by 
agitation,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  expect  "  that 
forbearance,  conciliation,  and  compromise  will  re- 
store good  temper,  and  with  returning  temper  that 
things  will  grow  peaceable."  But  the  aggressive 
demands  of  the  South  came  from  a  law  stronger 
than  the  volition  —  from  a  law  which  underlies 
society  and  compels  its  movements.  The  South 
could  not  endure  free  speech ;  it  was  fatal  to  the 
slave  system.  "  One  spark  may  explode  a  maga- 
zine, and  one  word  touch  off  a  servile  insurrection 
fatal  alike  to  master  and  slave.  To  keep  fetters  on 
their  servants  they  must  keep  fetters  on  their  own 
tongues.  Their  mouth  is  a  prison,  their  tongue  is 
1  Patriotic  Addresses,  183,  184. 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  175 

a  prisoner.  Liberty  of  the  speech  and  of  the  press, 
liberty  of  political  action,  in  the  slave  states,  but 
especially  the  more  southern  ones,  would  break 
them  up."  If  American  slavery  was  to  continue, 
therefore,  free  speech  must  be  abolished,  for  "  free 
speech  is  wrong  if  slavery  is  right."  And  it  was  as 
impossible  to  allow  free  speech  in  Congress  or  in 
the  North  as  in  the  South.  "  There  is  no  theoretic 
disposition  to  abridge  liberty  of  speech  in  Con- 
gress, but  our  country  is  now  so  sympathetically 
connected,  the  transmission  of  news  is  so  marvel- 
ously  easy  and  quick,  that  Congress  has  become 
a  speaking-trumpet.  The  whole  nation  hears  its 
speeches.  .  .  .  The  Southern  man  says ;  '  With 
you  it  is  not  a  necessity  to  speak,  with  us  it  is  a 
matter  of  necessity  to  have  silence.  ...  It  is  only 
a  theoretic  sentiment  that  impels  you,  it  is  self- 
existence  that  drives  us.'  As  a  matter  of  fact  this 
is  true.  A  system  of  slavery  is  imperiled  by  the 
natural  contact  of  a  system  of  liberty."  The  same 
necessity  compels  the  South  to  demand  the  exten- 
sion of  slavery.  Free  states  increase  in  wealth  and 
population,  slave  states  remain  stationary  or  dete- 
riorate. "  Virginia  cannot  grow  —  Pennsylvania 
cannot  stand  still.  The  Carolinas  are  sinking  by 
the  nature  of  their  industry.  New  York  is  advanc- 
ing prodigiously.  Georgia  has  no  chance  in  a 
match  with  Ohio.  If  the  slave  states  stand  as 
they  are  and  depend  upon  the  inherent  energies  of 
their  own  system,  they  are  doomed,  inevitably,  to 
become  the  last  and  least.    That  which  they  lack, 


\ 


176  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

therefore,  in  intrinsic  force,  they  are  compelled  to 
seek  by  extension.  Arkansas  supplements  Virginia. 
When  New  York  weighs  down  the  Carolinas,  Texas 
is  thrown  in  to  bring  up  the  scale."  But  uncom- 
promising adherence  to  principle  does  not  involve 
war  upon  the  South.  "  If  by  compromise  is  only 
meant  forbearance,  kindness,  well-wishing,  concili- 
ation, fidelity  to  agreements,  a  concession  in  things, 
not  principles,  why,  then,  we  believe  in  compro- 
mise ;  —  only  that  is  not  compromise,  interpreted 
by  the  facts  of  our  past  history."  The  anti-slavery 
Northerner  wishes  no  harm  to  the  South  or  to  its 
people,  covets  not  their  territory,  is  not  jealous  of 
their  honors,  does  not  ask  to  molest  the  South  in 
her  own  institutions,  does  not  even  deny  them 
liberty  to  retake  their  fugitive  slaves  where  they 
can  find  them.  ''But  we  will  not  be  made  consta- 
bles to  slavery,  to  run  and  catch,  to  serve  writs 
and  return  prisoners.  .  .  .  We  will,  and  with  grow- 
ing earnestness  to  the  end,  fulfill  every  just  duty, 
every  honorable  agreement,  and  every  generous  act, 
within  the  limits  of  truth  and  honor ;  all  this  and 
no  more,  —  no  more  though  the  heavens  fall,  —  no 
more,  if  states  unclasp  their  hands,  —  no  more,  if 
they  raise  up  violence  against  us,  —  no  more." 
Compromise  was  a  sham.  The  promise  of  peace 
through  compromise  was  a  deceitful  promise.  "  The 
only  way  to  peace  is  that  way  which  shall  chain 
slavery  to  the  place  it  now  has,  and  say  to  the 
dragon,  '  In  thy  den  thou  must  dwell,  and  lie  down 
in  thine  own  slime,  but  thou  shalt  not  go  fdrth  to 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER         177 

ravage  free  territory  or  leave  thy  trail  upon  un- 
spotted soil.' " 

III.  The  duty  of  the  North  was  in  his  view  per- 
fectly simple  and  perfectly  plain.  It  was  to  use; 
the  power  conferred  upon  it  under  the  Constitution 
to  confine  slavery  within  its  then  existing  limits. 
That  it  possessed  such  power  had  been  conceded  in 
Congress  by  the  foremost  statesman  of  the  South- 
ern States,  John  C.  Calhoun.  It  was  not  until  it 
became  clear  that  the  consent  of  the  North  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  free  territory  would  be 
difficult  if  not  impossible  to  obtain,  that  the  doc- 
trine was  developed  that  Congress  coidd  not  pro- 
hibit slavery  in  the  territories,  —  that  slavery  was 
national,  not  local.  Mr.  Beecher  did  not  argue  the 
constitutional  question.  He  assumed  the  correct- 
ness of  the  view  held  alike  by  North  and  South  in 
the  earlier  days  of  the  republic.  The  North  had 
no  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  the  states  ;  but 
it  had  the  right  to  prohibit  the  extension  of  slavery 
in  free  territory ;  and  it  was  under  a  sacred  obli- 
gation to  exercise  this  right.  That  exercise  ex- 
hausted its  powers  under  the  Constitution,  and 
therefore  fulfilled  its  political  obligations.  Such 
restriction  effected,  the  North  must  trust  to  time, 
patience,  and  kindly  influence,  for  the  ultimate 
extinction  of  slavery.  This  principle  of  political 
action  was  so  fundamental  to  Mr.  Beecher's  whole 
course  during  the  decade  of  anti-slavery  agitation 
from  1850  to  18G0,  and  it  so  differentiates  him 
from  the  abolitionists,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 


178  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

so-called  conservatives,  on  the  other,  that  we  quote 
at  considerable  length  from  his  own  statement  in 
"  The  Independent."  ^ 

Our  policy  for  the  future  is  plain.  All  the  natural 
laws  of  God  are  warring  upon  slavery.  We  have  only 
to  let  the  process  go  on.  Let  slavery  alone.  Let  it  go  to 
seed.  Hold  it  to  its  own  natural  fruit.  Cause  it  to  abide 
by  itself.  Cut  off  every  branch  that  hangs  beyond  the 
wall,  every  root  that  spreads.  Shut  it  up  to  itself  and  let 
it  alone.  We  do  not  ask  to  interfere  with  the  internal 
policy  of  a  single  state  by  congressional  enactments :  we 
wiU  not  ask  to  take  one  guarantee  from  the  institution. 
We  only  ask  that  a  line  be  drawn  about  it ;  that  an  in- 
superable bank  be  cast  up ;  that  it  be  fixed  and  forever 
settled  that  slavery  must  find  no  new  sources,  new  fields, 
new  prerogatives,  but  that  it  must  abide  in  its  place,  sub- 
ject to  all  the  legitimate  changes  which  will  be  brought 
upon  it  by  the  spirit  of  a  nation  essentially  democratic, 
by  schools  taught  by  enlightened  men,  by  colleges  send- 
ing annually  into  every  profession  thousands  bred  to  jus- 
tice and  hating  its  reverse,  by  churches  preaching  a  gos- 
pel that  has  always  heralded  civil  liberty,  by  manufac- 
tories that  always  thrive  best  when  the  masses  are  free 
and  refined  and  therefore  have  their  wants  multiplied, 
by  free  agriculture  and  free  commerce. 

When  slavery  begins,  under  such  treatment,  to  flag,  we 
demand  that  she  be  denied  political  favoritism  to  regain 
her  loss ;  we  demand  that  no  laws  be  enacted  to  give 
health  to  her  paralysis  and  strength  to  her  relaxing  grasp. 
She  boldly  and  honestly  demanded  a  right  to  equality 
with  the  North,  and  prophetically  spoke  by  Calhoun  that 
the  North  would  preponderate  and  crush  her.    It  is  true. 

1  Quoted  in  the  Biography,  242,  243. 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   REFORMER         179 

Time  is  her  enemy.  Liberty  will,  if  let  alone,  always  be 
a  match  for  oppression.  Now,  it  is  because  statesmen 
propose  stepping  in  between  slavery  and  the  appointed 
bourne,  to  which  she  goes,  scourged  by  God  and  Nature, 
that  we  resent  these  statesmen  and  refuse  to  follow  them. 
If  her  wounds  can  be  stanched,  if  she  may  have  adven- 
titious aid  in  new  privileges,  slavery  will  renew  her 
strength  and  stave  off  the  final  day.  But  if  it  be  forbid- 
den one  additional  favor,  and  be  obliged  to  stand  up  by 
the  side  of  free  labor,  free  schools,  free  churches,  free 
institutions ;  if  it  be  obliged  to  live  in  a  land  of  free 
books,  free  papers,  and  free  Bibles,  it  will  either  die  or 
else  it  ought  to  live. 

Was  Mr.  Beecher  right  ?  Would  the  restriction 
of  slavery  have  resulted  in  the  ultimate  extinction 
of  slavery  ?  History  does  not  answer  that  question, , 
for  slavery  was  overthrown  by  a  very  different  pro- 
cess. But  it  is  clear  that  the  slave  power  believed 
with  Mr.  Beecher,  that  the  extension  of  slavery  was 
necessary  to  its  continued  existence.  Senator 
Toombs,  of  Georgia,  wished  to  see  the  South  Amer- 
ican states  annexed  in  order  to  make  room  for 
slavery ;  Pierre  Soule,  of  Louisiana,  sought  the 
annexation  of  Cuba  for  the  same  purpose  ;  Bar- 
ringer,  of  North  Carolina,  speaking  in  1861,  for 
the  secessionists,  declared  that  no  compromise  could 
be  considered  which  did  not  concede  new  territory 
to  the  slave  states.  *'  They  know,"  he  said,  ''  that 
when  slavery  is  gathered  into  a  cul  de  sac  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  of  free  states,  it  is  destroyed. 
Slavery  must  have  expansion.  It  must  expand  by 
the  acquisition  of  territory  which  now  we  do  not 


180  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

own."  It  was  because  the  leaders  of  the  slave  power 
were  con\dnced  of  this  truth  that  when,  by  the  elec- 
tion of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  North  declared  that 
there  should  be  no  more  extension  of  slavery  in  the 
Union,  they  resolved  to  destroy  the  Union  and  seek 
extension  elsewhere.  The  abolitionists  who  sought 
to  destroy  the  Union  in  order  to  destroy  slavery 
enlisted  on  behalf  of  slavery  the  sentiments  of 
national  patriotism  and  national  pride  ;  the  anti- 
slavery  reformers,  among  whom  Mr.  Beecher  was 
a  leader,  by  insisting  on  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union  and  the  restriction  of  slavery,  at  last  saw 
the  sentiments  of  national  patriotism  and  national 
pride  enlisted  in  the  destruction  of  slavery  that  the 
nation  might  be  preserved. 

IV.  What  was  the  duty  of  the  North  respecting 
the  Fugitive-Slave  Law  ?  The  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion in  1850-60  was  not  so  clear  as  it  now  seems 
to  the  unconsidering  reader.  The  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  (Art.  iv.,  sec.  ii.,  3)  provided 
that  persons  lawfully  bound  in  any  state  to  service 
or  labor,  who  fled  into  another  state,  should  be 
delivered  up  on  demand.  This  clause  had  been 
unanimously  adopted,  and  without  debate,  by  the 
Constitutional  Convention.  In  point  of  fact,  the 
fugitive  slaves  were  not  delivered  up  on  demand. 
They  escaped  in  considerable  number  to  the  North, 
and  the  Northern  States  made  no  provision  for 
their  return.  On  the  contrary,  many  of  the  states, 
by  "  personal  liberty  laws,"  encouraged  the  escape 
of   the   slave   and   discouraged  their  capture  and 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY   REFORMER         181 

return.!  State  officers  who  assisted  slave-hunters 
were  fined ;  lawyers  who  conducted  the  cases  of 
alleged  owners  were  disbarred ;  the  confinement 
of  fugitive  slaves  in  state  prison  was  prohibited  ; 
state  prosecuting  attorneys  were  charged  with  the 
duty  of  defending  and  if  possible  securing  the  dis- 
charge of  every  arrested  fugitive  slave.  Voluntary 
organizations  were  formed  in  different  parts  of  the 
North  to  aid  the  escape  of  fugitive  slaves.  They 
were  sent  from  one  trusted  member  of  this  organiza- 
tion to  another,  until  they  found  safety  in  Canada. 
In  an  official  report  the  secretary  of  one  anti-slavery 
society  announced  that  four  hundred  fugitive  slaves 
had  thus  been  aided  to  escape  by  that  one  organi- 
zation. The  South,  believing  that  the  slave  was 
property  and  that  the  North  was  bound  in  honor 
by  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  to  return  the 
slave,  was  indignant ;  the  North,  believing  the  slave 
was  a  man,  that  the  return  of  a  fugitive  slave  to 
bondage  was  inhuman,  and  that  humanity  was  of 
higher  authority  than  the  Constitution,  continued 
to  disregard  the  elause  of  the  Constitution  and  to 
aid  in  the  escape  of  the  slave. 

Among  the  laws  which,  combined,  constituted 
the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  was  a  fugitive- 
slave  law,  which  intrusted  to  federal  officers  the 
execution  and  enforcement  of  the  provision  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  providing  for 

^  Some,  if  not  most  of  these  laws,  were  subsequent  in  date  to 
the  Fugitive-Slave  Law  ;  but  they  illustrate  the  feeling  against 
returning  fugitive  slaves  prior  to  that  law. 


182  HENRY   WARD  BEECHER 

the  return  of  fugitive  slaves.  This  law  provided 
for  certain  commissioners,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
circuit  courts  of  the  United  States,  who  were  to 
take  cognizance  of  fugitive-slave  cases.  The  testi- 
mony of  two  witnesses  to  the  escape  of  a  slave,  and 
the  identification  of  the  arrested  fugitive  by  the 
oath  of  one  person,  was  declared  to  be  satisfactory 
proof  on  which  to  base  his  return  to  his  master. 
The  proceedings  were  summary ;  no  jury  trial  was 
allowed ;  the  testimony  of  the  accused  was  not 
admitted;  all  good  citizens  were  required  to  aid 
in  the  execution  of  the  law ;  and  any  attempt  to 
harbor  or  conceal  a  fugitive  slave  was  punishable 
with  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Few  in  the  North  approved  the  spirit  of  this 
law ;  none  in  the  North  liked  it ;  but  many  de- 
fended it.  It  was  claimed  that  it  simply  fulfilled 
the  constitutional  obligation  which  the  North  was 
in  duty  bound  to  fulfill ;  that  the  return  of  a  fugi- 
tive slave  could  not  be  wrong,  since  Paul  returned 
Onesimus  to  slavery ;  that  it  was  enacted  by  the 
law-making  power  and  that  obedience  to  law  was 
the  duty  of  the  citizen,  whether  he  liked  it  or  not. 
Mr.  Beecher,  I  do  not  think,  ever  raised  any  ques- 
tion as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  law.  That  it 
was  constitutional  cannot  now  be  questioned  by  any 
impartial  historian.  No  provision  had  been  made 
by  the  states  for  carrying  into  effect  the  clause  of 
the  Constitution  requiring  the  return  of  persons 
held  to  service  or  labor  when  they  escaped  from 
one    state   to  another  state.     The  fact  that  the 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER         183 

clause  was  in  the  Constitution  was  sufficient  to 
authorize  Congress  to  make  provision  for  carrying 
it  into  effect  by  federal  machinery  ,and  through 
the  federal  courts.  The  commissioners  provided 
for  by  the  law  might  properly  be  regarded  as  spe- 
cial judges  created  by  statute,  with  special  judicial 
functions  conferred  upon  them.  Jury  trial  in  the 
state  in  which  the  fugitive  was  arrested  was  not 
his  constitutional  right,  since  it  was  assumed  that 
the  trial  would  take  place  in  the  state  from  which 
he  had  fled,  as  it  does  in  the  case  of  an  accused 
fleeing  from  one  state  and  carried  back  to  it  under 
extradition  proceedings  for  trial.  But  Mr.  Beecher 
denied  that  the  clause  in  the  Constitution  pro- 
viding for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves  created  a 
moral  obligation  to  return  them.  He  affirmed  that 
the  requirements  of  humanity  were  of  superior 
authority  to  those  of  the  Constitution.  That  there 
could  be  no  higher  law  than  the  Constitution  he 
condemned  as  subversive  alike  of  the  fundamental 
postulate  of  ethics  and  of  the  foundations  of  a 
free  state. 

Human  nature  is  a  poor  affair  —  man  is  but  a  pithy, 
porous,  flabby  substance,  till  you  put  conscience  into  him  ; 
and  as  for  building  a  republic  on  men  who  do  not  hold  to 
the  rights  of  private  conscience,  who  will  not  follow  their 
own  consciences  rather  than  that  of  any  priest  or  public, 
you  might  as  well  build  your  custom-house  in  Wall 
Street  on  a  foundation  of  cotton-wool.  But  the  nation 
that  regards  conscience  more  than  anything  else,  above 
all  customs  and  all  laws,  is  like  New  England  with  its 
granite  hills,  immovable  and  invincible ;  and  the  nation 


184  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

that  does  not  regard  conscience  is  a  mere  base  of  sand, 
and  quicksand  too,  at  that.^ 

That  any  ministers  should  cite  the  return  of 
Onesimus  to  his  master  by  Paul  as  an  argument 
for  the  return  of  a  fugitive  slave  in  America  under 
the  Fugitive-Slave  Law,  would  seem  extraordinary, 
were  not  such  unintelligent  use  of  Scripture  com- 
mon whenever  external  authority  is  substituted  for 
moral  sense  as  the  final  test  of  conduct.  Mr. 
Beecher  did  not  question  the  authority,  but  he  de- 
nied the  analogy :  — 

There  are  two  ways  of  sending  fugitives  back  into 
slavery.  Paul  gives  us  an  account  of  one  way,  —  the 
way  he  sent  back  the  slave  Onesimus.  Now,  if  people 
will  adopt  Paul's  way,  I  would  not  object.  In  the  first 
place,  he  instructed  him  in  Christianity  and  led  him  to 
become  a  Christian.  Then  he  wrote  a  letter  and  sent  it 
by  Onesimus.  The  slave  was  not  sent  off  under  the 
charge  of  officers,  but  he  went  back  alone,  of  his  own 
free  will,  with  a  letter  and  recommendation  as  a  brother 
beloved.^ 

But  he  spent  little  time  in  replying  to  half-hearted 
apologies  for  the  law.  He  appealed  against  it  to  the 
moral  sense  of  the  North.  He  condemned  it  on  the 
ground  that  it  violated  the  law  of  God  ;  in  eloquent 
terms  and  repeatedly  he  defied  it. 

The  law  is  bad  enough  in  obliging  the  officers  to  exe- 
cute it,  but  when  it  comes  down  among  the  citizens, 
when  it  forbids  us  helping  a  man  to  liberty,  I  say,  "  God 
do  so  to  me  and  more  also,  if  I  do  not  help  him  freedom- 
ward." 

1  Patriotic  Addresses,  p.  194.  2  jjjc?.  p.  189. 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER         185 

He  indicted  the  law  not  as  unconstitutional,  but  as 
inhuman  in  what  it  undertook  to  do  —  send  back 
a  man  to  bondage,  and  a  woman  to  the  shambles 
of  lust ;  immoral  in  what  it  required  the  citizen  to 
do,  in  requiring  him  to  cooperate  in  such  active  in- 
humanity ;  impolitic,  because  it  excited  in  the  North 
an  indignation  against  the  law  which  gave  the  fugi- 
tive many  friends  where  he  before  had  few,  and  so 
practically  promoted  the  escape  of  fugitive  slaves, 
which  it  was  the  object  of  the  law  to  prevent ;  in- 
jurious to  the  nation,  because  it  stirred  up  ill  blood 
between  North  and  South  ;  irreligious,  because  it 
led  men  and  even  ministers  to  scout  at  "  the  higher 
law,"  —  the  law  of  conscience,  the  law  of  God,  the 
law  upon  which  obedience  to  all  law  is  based ;  un- 
patriotic, because  more  than  anything  of  recent  oc- 
currence it  had  promoted  a  disregard  of  authority 
and  a  contempt  for  all  law.  To  the  argument  that 
law  when  enacted  must  be  obeyed,  and  that  there 
is  an  end  of  all  liberty  based  on  law  if  each  indi- 
vidual in  a  free  conamunity  may  decide  for  himself 
whether  he  will  obey  the  law  or  not,  and  discard  it 
at  his  option,  —  an  argument  which  perplexed  many 
conscientious  citizens,  —  he  replied  by  drawing 
sharply  the  distinction  between  endurance  of  wrong 
when  inflicted  and  the  commission  of  wrong:  when 
required. 


'to 


Every  citizen  must  obey  a  law  which  inflicts  injury 
upon  his  person,  estate,  and  civil  privilege,  until  legally 
redressed ;  but  no  citizen  is  bound  to  obey  a  law  which 
commands  him  to  inflict  injury  upon  another.   We  must 


X 


186  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

endure  but  never  commit  wrong.  We  must  be  patient 
when  sinned  against,  but  must  never  sin  against  others. 
The  law  may  heap  injustice  upon  me,  but  no  law  can 
authorize  me  to  pour  injustice  upon  another.  When  the 
law  commanded  Daniel  not  to  pray,  he  disobeyed  it ; 
when  it  commanded  him  to  be  cast  into  the  lion's  den, 
he  submitted.^ 

This  principle  he  summed  up  in  the  following 
aphoristic  sentence :  "  Obedience  to  laws,  even 
though  they  sin  against  me  :  disobedience  to  every 
law  that  commands  me  to  sin." 

V.  The  duty  of  the  North  was  not  merely  nega- 
tive ;  it  was  not  merely  pohtical ;  it  was  not  ful- 
filled by  refusing  obedience  to  the  Fugitive-Slave 
Law  and  refusing  to  acquiesce  in  the  extension  of 
slavery.  The  North  had  other  and  affirmative 
duties  to  perform ;  it  had  a  transcendent  duty  of 
maintaining  in  all  its  anti-slavery  campaign  a  spirit 
of  brotherly  kindness  toward  master  as  well  as  slave. 
In  an  address  delivered  before  the  American  and 
Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  May,  1851,  Mr. 
Beecher  said :  — 

The  first  business  is  to  limit  slavery  within  its  present 
bounds  ;  there  is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  against  this, 
at  any  rate  ;  then,  secondly,  to  see  to  it  that  the  South 
has  not  factitious  help  from  us  in  the  support  of  slavery  ; 
and  thirdly,  not  to  interfere  directly  with  slavery  where 
it  is.  We  are  to  do  what  the  sun  does  when  it  comes  up 
over  the  eastern  hills  ;  it  looks  at  a  mountain  of  ice  and 
melts  it.  If  our  missionaries  want  to  convert  the  Arabs, 
they  cannot  preach  to  them  when  they  are  on  horseback, 
^  Quoted  in  Biography^  p.  241. 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY   REFORMER         187 

for  they  will  run  away ;  they  must  make  the  Arabs  sit 
down  and  be  fixed  in  one  spot.  And  so  must  we  do  with 
slavery ;  we  must  hitch  her  and  anchor  her,  and  then 
begin  with  brotherly  affection  to  kill  her.  And  then  with 
our  hearts  warm  and  kind,  and  with  no  hasty  or  hard 
remarks,  we  must  preach  the  Bible  to  them,  and  preach 
till  we  make  slavery  a  burden  to  their  consciences,  and 
a  burden  to  their  pockets,  as  it  is  now  a  burden  on  God's 
forbearance.^ 

This  spirit  pervaded  all  his  anti-slavery  addresses. ' 
The  North  was  not  to  treat  the  citizens  of  the 
South  with  acrimony  and  bitterness  because  they 
were  involved  in  a  system  of  wrong-doing.  It  was 
not  to  breed  discontent  among  the  bondmen. 
*'  Whatever  gloomy  thoughts  the  slave's  own  mind 
may  brood,  we  are  not  to  carry  disquiet  to  him  from 
without."  The  North  ought  not  to  encourage  any 
organized  plan  to  carry  the  slaves  off  or  to  incite 
them  to  abscond  ;  still  less  should  it  promote  or 
tolerate  anything  like  insurrection  and  servile  war. 
"  By  all  the  conscience  of  a  man,  by  all  the  faith 
of  a  Christian,  and  by  all  the  zeal  and  warmth  of 
a  philanthropist,  I  protest  against  any  counsels 
that  lead  to  insurrection,  servile  war,  and  blood- 
shed. It  is  bad  for  the  master,  and  bad  for  the 
slave,  bad  for  all  that  are  neighbors  to  them,  bad  for 
the  whole  land,  —  bad  from  beginning  to  end."  ^ 

1  Patriotic  Addressee,  p.  187. 

^  This  explicit  condemnation  of  John  Brown's  method,  coupled 
-with  appreciation  of  John  Brown's  fanatical  courage,  was  uttered 
in  a  sermon  preached  October  30,  1859,  while  John  Brown  was  in 
prison  awaiting  trial. 


•188  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

The  North  should  begin  reform  at  the  North. 
There  the  free  colored  people  were  refused  the  com- 
mon rights  of  citizenship,  could  not  ride  in  the  city 
cars,  were  shut  out  from  the  common  industrial 
employments,  were  taxed  for  the  schools  and  the 
schools  closed  against  their  children,  were  barely 
tolerated  in  the  churches.  All  this  ought  to  be  re- 
formed. "  What  can  the  North  do  for  the  South 
unless  her  own  heart  is  purified  and  ennobled  ! 
The  North  must  maintain  sympathy  and  kindness 
toward  the  South.  We  are  brethren,  and  I  pray 
that  no  fratricidal  influences  be  permitted  to  sunder 
this  Union."  "  If  I  might  speak  for  the  North, 
I  would  say  to  the  South :  '  We  love  you  and  hate 
your  slavery.  We  shall  leave  no  fraternal  effort 
untried  to  deliver  you,  and  ourselves  with  you,  from 
the  degradation,  wickedness,  and  danger  of  this 
system,  and  for  this  we  cling  to  the  Union.  There 
is  health  in  it.'  "  The  North  must  be  in  earnest  to 
rid  itself  of  all  complicity  with  the  sin  of  slavery. 
"  You  and  I  are  guilty  of  the  spread  of  slavery 
unless  we  have  exerted,  normally  and  legitimately, 
every  influence  in  our  power  against  it."  If  we 
acquiesce  in  slavery,  "  we  clothe  ourselves  with  the 
cotton  which  the  slave  tills.  Is  he  scorched,  is  he 
lashed,  does  he  water  the  crop  with  his  sweat  and 
tears,  it  is  you  and  I  that  wear  the  shirt  and  con- 
sume the  luxury.  Our  looms  and  our  factories  are 
largely  built  on  the  slave's  bones ;  we  live  on  his 
labor."  I  think  one  would  search  Mr.  Beecher's 
speeches  and  writings  in  vain  for  a  single  instance 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  189 

in  which  his  condemnation  of  the  sin  of  slavery  was 
tainted  with  the  Pharisaic  tone  of  "  I  am  holier  than 
thou."  His  condemnation  of  slavery  was  also  a 
confession ;  he  took,  as  it  were,  upon  himself  the 
sin  and  shame,  against  which  he  summoned  all  his 
energies  in  a  long  and  what  at  times  seemed  a 
hopeless  campaign. 

VI.  What  had  the  Church  to  do  with  slavery  ? 

In  a  Democratic  procession  in  Brooklyn  in  1856 
a  transparency  was  borne  bearing  the  legend, 
"  Henry  Ward  Beecher  had  better  stick  to  the  y 
pulpit."  That  any  one  should  have  thought  that 
preaching  respecting  a  system  which  denied  the 
right  of  the  laborer  to  his  wages,  the  right  of  the 
husband  to  his  wife  and  the  wife  to  her  husband, 
of  the  parents  to  the  children  and  the  children  to 
the  parents,  and  of  aU  to  education  and  to  freedom 
in  rehgion,  was  a  violation  of  this  legend,  and  that 
to  deal  with  such  a  system  was  to  depart  from  the 
legitimate  function  of  a  Christian  teacher,  seems 
to  us  in  this  twentieth  century  wholly  incredible. 
But  the  Democratic  legend  expressed  what  was  a 
common  and,  in  the  beginning  of  the  decade  of  which 
we  are  writing,  an  almost  universal  belief  in  the 
churches  and  among  the  clergy.  It  is  not  true  that  \ 
the  churches  of  the  North  in  1850  were  pro-slavery; 
but  it  is  true  that  they  did  not  think  it  the  function  > 
of  the  Church  to  deal  with  slavery.  Nor  was  the  say-  -^^ 
ing,  "  Let  the  minister  preach  the  Gospel,"  a  mere 
cowardly  evasion  of  a  difficult  and  dangerous  duty ; 
genuine  conviction  lay  behind  this  utterance.    I 


190  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

think  it  was  in  1875  that  Dwight  L.  Moody  came  to 
Mr.  Beecher,  asking  him  to  resign  his  pulpit  and  go 
into  an  evangelical  campaign  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world.  *'  We  two  working  together,"  he  said,  in 
urging  this  plan  upon  Mr.  Beecher,  "  could  shake 
the  Continent  as  it  never  has  been  shaken  before." 
Mr.  Beecher,  in  telling  me  this  incident  afterwards, 
said,  in  substance,  —  of  course  I  do  not  pretend  at 
this  late  date  to  remember  and  quote  his  exact  words, 
—  "  This  proposition  of  Mr.  Moody's  was  very  at- 
tractive to  me.  I  should  like  to  go  up  and  down  the 
land  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  love  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus.  But  Mr.  Moody  and  I  could  not  pos- 
sibly work  together  in  such  a  mission :  he  believes 
that  the  world  is  lost,  and  he  is  seeking  to  save  from 
the  wreck  as  many  individuals  as  he  can  ;  I  believe 
that  this  world  is  to  be  saved,  and  I  am  seeking  to 
bring  about  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  this  earth." 
These  two  conceptions  of  the  Christian  religion,  one 
of  which  regards  as  its  end  a  world  redemption  and 
the  creation  of  a  new  social  order  founded  on  right- 
eousness and  inspired  by  love,  the  other  of  which 
regards  the  end  of  the  Christian  religion  the  pre- 
paration of  few  or  many  in  this  life  of  probation  for 
a  heaven  beyond  the  grave,  are  not  necessarily  in- 
consistent —  each  may  include  the  other ;  in  point 
of  fact,  however,  each  has  generally  been  held  exclu- 
sively of  the  other.  The  doctrine  of  a  lost  world  from 
which  a  few  are  to  be  saved  for  a  future  heaven 
was  inherited  by  the  churches  from  a  mediaeval 
theology,  and,  though  somewhat  modified,  was  still 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  191 

dominant  in  1850.  The  Home  Missionary  Society, 
the  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  the  American 
Tract  Society,  all  maintained  a  policy  of  silence  re- 
specting slavery  ;  not  merely  because  speech  would 
imperil  the  organization,  but  because  slavery  be- 
longed to  the  present  social  order,  —  and  they  main- 
tained that  it  was  not  their  function  to  deal  with  the 
present  social  order.  Whether  in  1850  Mr.  Beecher 
had  formulated  his  theology  respecting  what  has 
since  been  called  "  social  salvation  "  as  clearly  as  he 
had  in  1875,  I  do  not  know;  I  rather  think  not./ 
It  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Beecher,  as  it  is  of 
most  men  of  action,  to  act  on  his  instincts  first  and 
formulate  his  philosophy  afterwards.  His  theory  of 
life  grew  out  of  his  living ;  and  it  was  impossible 
for  such  a  man  as  he,  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  hu- 
manity which  animated  him,  to  live  in  a  country  in 
which  slavery  was  spreading  its  baleful  influences 
over  the  whole  nation,  and  have  the  opportunity  to 
speak,  and  still  keep  silence.  "  I  do  not  know," 
he  said  in  1886,  in  an  address  before  the  London 
Congregational  Board,  "  what  it  is  in  me  —  whether 
it  is  my  father  or  my  mother  or  both  of  them  — 
but  the  moment  that  you  teU  me  that  a  thing  that 
should  be  done  is  impopular,  I  am  right  there  every 
time.  I  fed  on  the  privilege  of  making  men  hear 
things  that  they  did  not  want  to  hear  because  I 
was  a  public  speaker.  I  gloried  in  my  gifts,  not 
because  they  brought  praise,  for  they  brought  the 
other  thing  continually  ;  but  men  would  come  and 
would  hear,  and  I  rejoiced  in  it."     It  was  quite 


\ 


192  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

impossible  that  a  man  with  this  fire  in  his  bones, 
with  men  coming  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say,  could 
be  silent  on  slavery,  when  slavery  was  the  upper- 
most moral  issue  in  the  community. 

Mr.  Beecher  was  not  a  preacher  and  an  anti- 
slavery  reformer ;  he  was  an  anti-slavery  reformer 
because  he  was  a  preacher.  Slavery  was  an  obsta- 
cle to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  It  was  the  opposite  of 
that  kingdom  which  is  righteousness  and  peace  and 
joy.  It  involved  wrongness  and  war  and  misery. 
It  destroyed  men,  and  Jesus  Christ  came  to  build 
men  up.  Mr.  Beecher  could  not  preach  this  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  and  work  for  this  Kingdom  of  God 
without  coming  in  conflict  with  the  system  which 
antagonized  the  one  and  destroyed  the  other.  In 
his  "  Review  of  Thirteen  Years  in  the  Ministry  "  he 
states  this  principle  broadly  without  making  spe- 
cial application  of  it  to  slavery. 

When  I  hear  men  say  they  are  ordained  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  and  that  they  are  consequently  not  to  med- 
dle with  public  questions  which  disturb  the  peace,  I 
always  ask  myself  what  Gospel  it  is  that  man  is  or- 
dained to  preach  which  forbids  him  to  meddle  with 
public  questions  that  disturb  the  peace ;  for  it  is  ex- 
plicitly declared  that  the  Gospel  of  Christ  should  cause 
disturbance.  .  .  .  jl  hokl  that  it  is  a  Christian  minister's 
duty  not  only  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment without  reservation,  but  to  apply  its  truths  to 
every  question  which  relates  to  the  welfare  of  men; 
and,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  am  willing  to  do  this 
and  take  the  consequences,  whatever  they  may 
^  Sermons,  Harper's  Edition,  vol.  i.  pp.  28,  29. 


be.i    I 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  REFORMER  193 

In  an  address  delivered  before  the  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  and  in  a  subsequent  letter  to  the  "  New 
York  Tribune,"  both  of  which  are  quoted  from  in 
the  "  Biography  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,"  by  his 
son  and  son-in-law,  he  states  this  principle  more 
fully  in  its  specific  application  to  slavery.  "My 
earnest  desire  is  that  slavery  may  be  destroyed  by 
the  manifest  power  of  Christianity.  If  it  were 
given  me  to  choose  whether  it  should  be  destroyed 
in  fifty  years  by  selfish  commercial  influences,  or, 
standing  for  seventy-five  years,  be  then  the  spirit 
and  trophy  of  Christ,  I  would  rather  let  it  linger 
twenty-five  years  more,  that  God  may  be  honored, 
and  not  mammon,  in  the  destruction  of  it."  In  re- 
sponse to  the  "  Tribune's  "  criticism  of  this  senti- 
ment, he  reaffirmed  and  reinforced  it. 

Our  highest  and  strongest  reason  for  seeking  justice 
among  men  is  not  the  benefit  to  men  themselves,  ex- 
ceedingly strong  as  that  motive  is  and  ought  to  be.  We 
do  not  join  the  movement  party  of  our  times  simply  be- 
cause we  are  inspired  by  an  inward  and  constitutional 
benevolence.  We  are  conscious  of  both  these  motives 
and  of  many  other  collateral  ones ;  but  we  are  earnestly 
conscious  of  another  feeling  stronger  than  either,  that 
lives  unimpaired  when  these  faint,  yea,  that  gives  vigor 
and  persistence  to  these  feelings  whei|  they  are  discour- 
aged ;  and  that  is  a  strong,  personal,  enthusiastic  love 
for  Christ  Jesus.  I  regard  the  movement  of  the  world 
toward  justice  and  rectitude  to  be  of  His  inspirations. 
I  believe  my  own  aspirations,  having  a  base  in  my 
natural  faculties,  to  be  influenced  and  directed  by  Christ's 
spirit.    The  mingled   affection  and  adoration  which  I 


IM  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

feel  for  Him  is  the  strongest  feeling  that  I  know. 
Whether  I  will  or  not,  whether  it  be  a  phantasy  or  a 
sober  sentiment,  the  fact  is  the  same  nevertheless,  that 
that  which  will  give  pleasure  to  Christ's  heart  and  bring 
to  my  consciousness  a  smile  of  gladness  on  His  face  in 
behalf  of  my  endeavor,  is  incalculably  more  to  me  than 
any  other  motive.  I  would  work  for  the  slave  for  his 
own  sake,  but  I  am  sure  that  I  would  work  ten  times  as 
earnestly  for  the  slave  for  Christ's  sake.^ 

If  this  spirit  distinguished  Mr.  Beecher  from  the 
merely  anti-slavery  reformers  on  the  one  hand,  and 
from  the  theological  and  ecclesiastical  preachers  on 
the  other,  it  distinguished  him  also  from  certain 
anti-slavery  preachers  who  were  rather  reformers 
than  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  and  whose  churches 
suffered  in  consequence  from  the  diversion  of 
their  interests  and  enthusiasms  from  a  spiritual  to 
a  merely  ethical  work.  It  was  this  recognition  of 
the  anti-slavery  movement  as  a  Gospel  movement, 
and  of  humanity  and  liberty  as  essential  elements 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God  of  which  the  Christian 
minister  is  a  herald,  that  enabled  him  to  carry  on 
his  church  work,  and  with  extraordinary  spiritual 
results,  and  accompanied  by  a  remarkable  revival, 
in  the  midst  of  an  anti-slavery  campaign  from 
which  he  never  suffered  himself  to  be  diverted, 
and  in  which  he  never  relaxed  his  efforts. 
^  Quoted  in  Biography,  p.  269. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN 

For  the  ten  years  1850-60,  Mr.  Beecher  devoted 
himself  to  the  propagation  of  the  principles  stated 
in  the  preceding  chapter :  the  fundamental  truth  — 
that  slavery  is  inherently  and  essentially  wrong ; 
the  ultimate  end  to  be  constantly  kept  in  view  — 
the  abolition  of  slavery ;  the  means  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  that  end  —  the  restriction  of  slavery 
within  the  then  existing  limits  of  slave  territory ; 
the  underlying  principle  —  no  participation  by  the 
North  in  the  sin  of  slavery,  and  therefore  no  return 
by  the  North  of  fugitive  slaves ;  the  spirit  —  one 
of  good  will  alike  to  black  and  white,  to  slave  and 
master ;  a  chief  instrument  in  the  working  out  of 
this  reform  —  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ ;  the 
dominant,  animating  motive  —  love  for  Christ  and 
loyalty  to  Him  and  His  kingdom.  He  emphasized 
now  one  of  these  principles,  now  another,  accord- 
ing to  the  exigency  of  the  time,  the  nature  of  the 
audience  he  addressed,  his  own  mood  ;  but  he  never 
retracted,  never  modified,  never  added  to  these 
fundamental  principles.  With  one  exception,  here- 
inafter to  be  mentioned,  all  his  teaching  relating 
tA)  the  slavery  question  was  a  development  and 
application  of  his  article  in  "  The  New  York  Inde- 


196  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

pendent"  of  February  21,  1850,  entitled  "Shall 
we  compromise  ?  "  ^ 

The  compromise  measures  were  enacted  in  July, 
1850.  Idaho  and  New  Mexico  were  organized  as 
territories,  with  no  reference  to  slavery.  California 
was  admitted  as  a  free  state.  Slave-trade  was  abol- 
ished in  the  District  of  Columbia.  The  Fugitive- 
Slave  Law  was  enacted  and  its  machinery  set  in 
operation.  Wherever  a  fugitive  slave  was  arrested 
popular  excitement  was  aroused,  popular  hostility 
to  slavery  was  intensified,  and  converts  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  were  made.  Men  who  assented  to 
slavery  as  a  patriarchal  institution  in  the  remote 
South  were  aroused  to  indignation  when  they  were 
asked  to  aid  or  even  acquiesce  in  the  return  to 
slavery  of  a  fugitive  who  had  made  his  escape  from 
it.  Prominent  men  took  part  in  stirring  up  the 
public  to  open,  though  fruitless,  resistance  to  this 
law ;  others,  with  greater  wisdom,  aided  in  evad- 
ing it.  This  was  done  not  only  by  radical  aboli- 
tionists—  not  only  such  men  as  Samuel  J.  May 
and  Theodore  Parker,  but  practical  politicians  like 
Thurlow  Weed,  United  States  officials  like  George 
S.  Hilliard,  anti-slavery  editors  like  Horace  Gree- 
ley, aided  and  abetted  the  operation  of  the  "  under- 
ground railroad."  Sometimes  these  evasions  *  took 
on  a  whimsical  turn.  The  story  is  told  of  a  United 
States  marshal  in  Boston  under  a  Democratic 
administration,  who,  when  he  was  applied  to  for 
aid  in  arresting  a  fugitive  slave,  was  accustomed 
^  See  page  1G7  ff. 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN  197 

to  reply,  "  I  will  see  if  I  can  find  him ; "  then 
always  went  to  William  Lloyd  Garrison's  office 
and  said,  "  I  want  to  find  such  and  such  a  negro ; 
tell  me  where  he  is."  "  The  next  thing  I  knew," 
he  said  afterwards,  "  the  fellow  was  in  Canada." 
After  nearly  three  years,  it  is  said  that  not  fifty 
slaves  had  been  recovered  under  the  Fugitive- 
Slave  Law. 

But  the  excitements  occasioned  by  the  spasmodic 
attempts  to  recover  fugitive  slaves  in  the  North 
were  both  local  and  short-lived.  The  general  im- 
pression was  that  the  compromise  measures  were  a 
success.  The  country  had  a  respite  from  the  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  and  rejoiced  in  its  peace.  Who- 
ever attempted  to  disturb  that  peace  by  reopening 
the  question  aroused  against  himself  the  hostility 
of  the  community.  Strange  as  it  may  appear  to  us 
now,  to  the  great  mass  of  the  men  in  the  North  the 
slavery  question  appeared  to  be  settled.  So  marked 
was  this  effect  of  the  compromise  measures  that 
President  Fillmore,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  office 
on  the  death  of  Zachary  Taylor,  was  able  to  declare 
that  "  the  agitation  which  for  a  time  threatened  to 
disturb  the  fraternal  relations  which  make  us  one 
people  is  fast  subsiding,"  and  to  congratulate  the 
country  "upon  the  general  acquiescence  in  these 
measures  of  peace  which  has  been  accepted  in  all 
parts  of  the  Republic."  New  issues  arose  to  divert 
public  interest  to  other  topics  of  public  discussion. 
The  long  dispute  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  respecting  an  isthmian  canal  connect- 


198  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

insf  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  oceans  was  settled 
by  the  famous  Clayton -Bui  wer  treaty,  and  this 
achievement  turned  public  attention  from  national 
to  international  problems.  No  one  then  realized  that 
half  a  century  would  pass  and  the  canal  woidd  still 
be  uncompleted  and,  indeed,  scarcely  begun.  The 
dramatic  revolution  in  Hungary  aroused  public 
interest ;  with  the  arrival  of  Kossuth  on  our  shores, 
it  became  a  brief  but  passionate  excitement.  The 
famous  letter  of  Daniel  Webster  to  Mr.  Hulsemann, 
the  Austrian  charge,  affirming  the  interest  of  the 
United  States  in  this  revolution,  and  its  right  and 
intention  to  recognize,  in  its  own  discretion,  any  de 
facto  revolutionary  government,  aroused  the  enthu- 
siasm of  American  lovers  of  liberty,  and  turned 
their  thoughts  for  the  moment  away  from  the  vio- 
lation of  liberty  within  their  own  country.  A  new 
native  American  party,  with  a  secret  oath-bound 
organization,  bearing  the  popular  title  of  ''  Know- 
No  thing,"  partly  religious,  partly  political,  which 
aimed  at  the  exclusion  of  foreigners  from,  control, 
and  therefore  from  office,  widened  and  intensified 
the  popular  impression  that  the  slavery  issue  was  a 
past  issue,  and  that  other  and  more  immediately  im- 
portant questions  had  taken  its  place.  This  belief 
found  at  once  expression  and  confirmation  in  the 
election  of  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency —  Franklin  Pierce  —  by  an  overwhelming 
majority,  two  hundred  and  fifty-four  electoral  votes 
against  forty-two  for  the  Whig  candidate,  Winfield 
Scott,  with  a  popular  majority  of  more  than  two 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN  199 

hundred  thousand,  the  largest  which  had  ever  been 
receiv^ed  since  any  record  was  made  of  the  popular 
vote.  Says  James  Ford  Ehodes  in  his  "  History 
of  the  United  States : "  "  The  reason  of  Demo- 
cratic success  was  because  that  party  unreservedly 
indorsed  the  compromise,  and  in  its  approval 
neither  platform  nor  candidate  halted.  .  .  .  The 
people  were  convinced  that  the  status  of  every 
foot  of  territory  in  the  United  States,  with  regard 
to  slavery,  was  fixed ;  that  it  had  ceased  to  be  a 
political  question . ' ' 

From  this  pleasing  illusion  the  North  was  sud- 
denly aroused  by  the  introduction  into  Congress 
of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  biU  by  Senator  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois.  In  1820  Missouri  had 
been  admitted  to  the  Union  on  the  conditions  — 
first,  that  no  restriction  as  to  slavery  be  imposed 
upon  Missouri  in  framing  a  state  constitution,  and, 
second,  that  in  aU  the  rest  of  the  country  ceded  by 
France  to  the  United  States  north  of  the  southern 
boundary  line  of  Missouri,  there  should  be  neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude.  This  famous 
Missouri  Compromise  Senator  Douglas  proposed  to 
repeal  by  an  act  providing  for  the  organization  of 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  as  territories,  wdth  liberty 
to  the  people  of  those  territories  to  determine  for 
themselves  whether  they  would  allow  slavery  or  not. 
Senator  Douglas's  enemies,  at  the  time,  asserted 
that  his  sole  motive  for  this  legislation,  and  for  the 
consequent  reopening  of  the  slavery  question,  was 
his  ambition  to  secure  the  Southern  vote  for  the 


200  HENRY    WARD   BEECHER 

presidency  in  a  future  presidential  campaign.  The 
historian  has  to  do  with  the  public  acts,  not  with 
the  private  motives,  of  men ;  hut  the  historian, 
whatever  his  judgment  of  Senator  Douglas's  act, 
nmst  recognize  the  truth  that  Letter  motives  than 
that  of  personal  ambition  might  have  actuated  him. 
For  ten  years  he  had  been  urging  the  organization 
of  the  Nebraska  territory  upon  Congress,  but  in 
vain.  His  avowed  object  was  to  open  the  line  of 
communication  between  the  Missouri  Valley  and 
our  possessions  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  prevent 
the  latter  from  coming  under  the  domination  of 
Great  Britain  through  the  industrial  activity  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Fur  Company.  Three  forces  had 
operated  thus  far  successfully  to  resist  this  necessary 
measure  for  the  public  welfare.  The  territory  west 
of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers  had  been 
reserved  to  the  Indians,  with  a  guarantee  that  it 
should  never  be  open  to  white  settlement  "  so  long 
as  grass  should  gi-ow  and  water  should  run."  Mis- 
taken humanitarians  resisted  any  disregard  of  the 
supposed  rights  and  interests  of  the  Indians  guar- 
anteed under  these  treaties.  The  Atlantic  States 
were  jealous  of  the  growth  and  expansion  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and  resisted  any  policy  which 
might  tend  to  promote  that  growth  and  expansion. 
The  South  dreaded  the  political  domination  of  the 
North,  and  was  jealous  of  the  industrial  growth  of 
free  territory,  and  therefore  it  resisted  any  scheme 
for  opening  the  territory  west  of  the  Missouri  River 
subject  to  the  restrictions  of   the  Missouri  Com- 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN  201 

promise.    Senator  Douglas  may  have  believed  that 
the  opening  of  this  immense  territory  to  settlement 
and    civilization    would    far    outbalance    any    dis- 
advantages which  might  grow  out  of  a  temporary 
reopening  of  the  slavery  question  ;   he  may  have 
believed  that  slavery  would  not  enter  this  territory, 
that,  to  quote  the  words  of  Daniel  Webster,  it  was 
not  necessary  to  reenact  the  laws  of  God ;  he  may 
have  believed  that,  since  slavery  was  a  state  insti- 
tution and  could  not  be  interfered  with  in  the  state, 
it  was  a  legitimate  extension  of  that  principle  to 
allow  the  people  of  the  territory,  which  was  but  an 
inchoate  state,  to  determine  for  themselves  whether 
they  would  or  would  not  allow  it.    Whatever  his 
motive,  the  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill, 
by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  thirteen  to  one  hundred 
in  the  House,  and  by  a  vote  of  thirty-five  to  thir- 
teen  in   the   Senate,  in   May,   1854,  aroused  the 
indignation  of  the   North  as   it  never  had  been 
aroused  before.    This  was  not  merely,  perhajjs  not 
mainly,   because   territory  before    consecrated   to 
freedom  was  now  thrown  open  to  slavery ;  it  was 
rather  because  a  sacred  compact  had  been  rudely 
set  aside.    The  North  had  fulfilled  its  part  in  the 
contract :  Missouri  was  a  slave  state.    The  South 
now  nullified  its  part  in  the  contract  and  opened 
the   territory  north  of   the  southern  boundary  of 
Missouri  also  to  slavery.    The  contention   of  the 
anti-slavery   advocates   that    the  slavery   question 
could  never  be  settled  by  compromise  was  justified. 
The  North  began  to  realize  that  compromises  and 


202  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

compacts  were  in  vain.  Much  of  the  hostility  which 
"before  had  been  directed  against  the  abolitionists, 
because  they  persisted  in  agitating  the  slavery 
question,  was  now  directed  against  the  doctrine 
of  popular  sovereignty,  because  it  reopened  that 
agitation. 

The  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  was  introduced  into 
Congress  on  the  23d  of  January,  1854.  On  the 
11th  of  February  Mr.  Beecher  entered  the  cam- 
paign against  this  measure.  "  The  Nebraska  bill," 
said  he  in  a  speech  in  Boston,  "is  the  death-strug- 
gle of  slavery  for  expansion,  seeing  that  she  must 
have  more  room  to  breathe  or  suffocate.  All  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  slavery  shall  be  agitated  is  now 
at  an  end.  The  South  says  it  shall  be  agitated,  and 
she  cannot  help  it.  The  mask  is  off,  and  all  dis- 
guises are  thrown  to  the  winds,  and  the  slave  power 
stands  out  in  its  true  character,  making  its  last  and 
most  infamous  demands  upon  the  North.  All  we 
have  to  do  is  to  say  No."  Two  weeks  later  he  writes 
to  "  The  New  York  Independent,"  expressing  the 
deep  religious  motive  which  inspired  his  opposition 
to  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill.  "  Everywhere  I  find 
the  Nebraska  question  to  be  a  theme  of  anxious 
interest.  But  there  is  little  outward  expression  of 
strong  feeling.  I  fear  that  Christian  men  do  not 
look  upon  it  as  a  religious  question.  The  responsi- 
bility which  God  has  placed  upon  the  religious- 
minded  North  to  hold  that  vast  territory  open  to 
the  Gospel,  to  institutions  which  spring  from  a 
religious  feeling  and  will  corroborate  all  religious 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN  203 

endeavors,  is  but  little  felt.  Yet  to  me  that  seems 
a  very  urgent  view,  the  deepest."  He  urges  upon 
the  people  instant  and  immediate  activity ;  recom- 
mends that  petitions  be  circulated  in  every  school 
district ;  that  documents  be  distributed  among  the 
people,  especially  the  speeches  of  Chase,  Seward, 
and  Sumner  ;  that  every  man  of  influence  write  to 
his  representative;  that  public  meetings  be  held 
all  through  the  North ;  that  the  women  cooperate 
in  this  movement ;  that  no  one  wait  for  his  neigh- 
bor, but  "  the  poor  men,  uncultured  men,  mechan- 
ics and  laborers,  in  short,  the  gi-eat  industrial  class, 
move  with  spontaneousness."  He  finds  at  last  a 
people  ready  to  respond.  A  hundred  and  fifty-one 
ministers  of  New  York  and  vicinity  memorialize 
Congress  against  the  Nebraska  bill ;  three  thousand 
ministers  of  New  England  unite  in  a  petition  against 
it.  But  to  Mr.  Beecher  the  popular  excitement 
seems  like  apathy.  He  declares  that  by  the  bill "  it 
is  proposed  to  doom  a  territory  large  enough  to 
make  ten  states  as  large  as  New  York  to  slavery." 
At  times  he  apprehends  the  dissolution  of  the  Union. 
To  his  own  people  he  says,  in  a  prayer-meeting : 
"  Things  have  come  nearly  to  the  worst  in  this 
nation  ;  but  with  the  consciousness  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, I  will  not  despair.  If  God  sees  fit  U)  destroy 
this  government  He  will  raise  up  another  to  carry 
out  His  purpose."  This  is  on  the  19th  of  May, 
1854  ;  seven  days  later  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill 
is  sismed  and  becomes  the  law  of  the  land. 

There  were  two  ways  of  meeting  this  movement 


204  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

for  the  extension  of  slavery:  one  by  federal,  the 
other  by  local  action.  Both  methods  were  simulta- 
neously adopted  by  anti-slavery  leaders. 

There  had  been  for  twelve  years  a  Liberty  party 
in  the  United  States,  insignificant  in  numbers,  but 
at  least  on  one  occasion  influential.  The  vote  for 
James  G.  Birney  in  1844  had  drawn  off  votes 
enough  from  Henry  Clay  to  secure  the  election  of 
James  K.  Polk.  In  that  election,  the  Liberty  party 
had  been,  or  at  least  at  the  time  appeared  to  be, 
however  unconsciously,  an  ally  of  the  slave  power. 
But  after  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  was  passed,  it 
began  to  be  clear  to  those  who  regarded  the  slavery 
question  as  the  most  important  question  before  the 
nation,  that  there  was  no  longer  hope  from  either 
the  Democratic  or  the  Whig  party  for  even  moder- 
ate anti-slavery  action.  The  demands  of  slavery 
were  sustained  alike  by  the  Whig  Millard  Fill- 
more and  the  Democratic  Franklin  Pierce.  Never- 
theless, shrewd  politicians,  whose  anti-slavery 
principles  could  not  be  questioned,  doubted  the 
advisability  of  attempting  the  formation  of  a  new 
party.  Chase,  Sumner,  and  Wade  approved  it,  but 
Sumner  had  always  been  an  independent,  and 
Chase  was  a  Democrat ;  Thurlow  Weed  and  William 
H.  Seward  at  first  discouraged  it.  The  latter  did  not 
believe  that  the  various  opponents  of  the  Nebraska 
bill  were  yet  ready  to  work  together  in  a  common 
organization  for  a  common  end.  I  do  not  know  that 
Mr.  Beecher  ever  took  part  in  the  councils  of  those 
who  were  framing  the  political  machinery  to  resist 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  CAMPAIGN  205 

the  extension  of  slavery.  He  was  never,  in  any 
sense  of  the  term,  a  politician.  But  when,  in  1856, 
the  heterogeneous  political  elements,  which  were 
agreed  in  nothing  but  their  hostility  to  further 
extension  of  slavery,  united  in  the  nomination 
of  John  C.  Fremont  for  President  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Beecher  at  once  entered  heartily  into 
the  canvass  for  his  election.  The  week  after  the 
nomination  he  writes  from  New  Hampshire  :  — 

Everywhere  I  find  people  aroused  to  the  great  ques- 
tion of  the  times,  and  it  seems  as  if  at  last  the  North 
were  determined  to  fulfill  her  mission  and  restore  to  the 
land  the  principles  which  she  first  planted.  I  find  in 
every  quarter  that  Fremont  is  gaining  friends  and  bids 
fair  to  carry  every  state  in  New  England. 

Two  months  later,  at  the  end  of  the  summer's  vaca- 
tion, when  he  would  naturally  be  beginning  the  fall 
work  with  Plymouth  Church,  at  the  request  of  a 
number  of  eminent  clergymen  and  others,  he  was 
given  a  leave  of  absence  by  the  trustees  to  devote 
himself  to  the  political  campaign  "  in  behalf  of  the 
cause  of  liberty,  then  felt  to  be  in  peril."  This  was 
in  September,  1856.  Upon  this  campaign  he  en- 
tered with  characteristic  energy,  speaking  twice 
and  often  three  times  a  week,  generally  making  a 
two  to  three  hours'  speech,  often  in  the  open  air, 
to  audiences  of  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  people. 
The  burden  of  liis  campaign  speeches  was  a  reiter- 
ation of  the  principles  we  have  already  reported  as 
urged  by  him  on  the  platform  and  in  the  press. 
When  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Fremont  tried  to  con- 


206  HENRY   WARD  BEECHER 

fuse  the  issue  by  making  a  new  one,  Mr.  Beecher 
did  not  follow  tlieir  lead,  and,  by  turning  the  laugh 
on  them,  effectually  prevented  them  from  diverting 
public  attention  from  the  real  question  at  issue. 
Certain  astute  politicians  had  endeavored  to  secure 
the  cooperation  of  the  native  American  party  with 
the  new  Republican  party,  though  wiser  counsels 
had  prevailed  and  had  prevented  any  open  alliance 
between  the  two.  The  opponents  of  the  Republican 
party  endeavored  to  set  this  native  American  sen- 
timent against  John  C.  Fremont,  because  in  his 
runaway  match  he  had  been  married  by  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest.  His  political  enemies  insisted  that 
he  was  a  Roman  Catholic  and  concealed  the  fact 
for  political  ends.  The  charge,  though  refuted,  was 
repeated  again  and  again.  Serious  argument  serves 
little  purpose  in  such  a  case.  Mr.  Beecher's  story 
of  the  dog  named  "  Noble-at-the-empty-hole  "  over- 
whehned  the  accusation  with  ridicule.  "  Having  on 
one  occasion  seen  a  red  squirrel  run  into  a  hole  in 
a  stone  wall,  he  could  not  be  persuaded  that  he  was 
not  there  forever.  .  .  .  When  all  other  occupations 
failed,  this  hole  remained  to  him.  When  there  were 
no  chickens  to  harry,  no  pigs  to  bite,  no  cattle  to 
chase,  no  children  to  romp  with,  no  expeditions  to 
make  with  the  grown  folks,  and  when  he  had  slept 
all  that  his  dog  skin  would  hold,  he  would  walk  out 
of  the  yard,  yawn  and  stretch  himself,  and  then  look 
wistfully  at  the  hole,  as  if  thinking  to  himself: 
'  Well,  as  there  is  nothing  else  to  do,  I  may  as  well 
try  that  hole  again.'    We  had  almost  forgotten  this 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN  207 

little  trait  until  the  attack  of  the  '  New  York  Ex- 
press '  in  respect  to  Colonel  Fremont's  religion 
brought  it  ridiculously  to  mind  again.  .  .  .  The 
'Express,'  like  Noble,  has  opened  on  this  hole  in  the 
wall,  and  can  never  be  done  barking  at  it.  Day 
after  day  it  resorts  to  this  empty  hole.  When 
everything  else  fails,  this  resource  remains.  There 
they  are  indefatigably,  —  '  Express '  and  Noble,  — 
a  church  without  a  Fremont,  and  a  hole  without  a 
squirrel  in  it.  .  .  .  We  never  read  the  '  Express ' 
nowadays  without  thinking  involuntarily,  '  Good- 
ness !  the  dog  is  letting  off  at  that  hole  again.' " 
The  story  was  caught  up  by  the  press  and  went  the 
rounds  of  the  country.  "  The  dog  Noble  and  the 
empty  hole  "  turned  into  ridicide  the  attempt  to 
make  political  capital  out  of  the  marriage  of  Fre- 
mont by  a  Roman  Catholic  priest.  It  is  doubtfid 
whether  the  incident  lost  General  Fremont  a  vote ; 
it  is  quite  certain  that  it  did  not  lose  him  so  many 
as  were  gained  for  him  by  the  romance  of  the  run- 
away match. 

Simultaneously  with  this  national  movement  to 
prevent  the  further  extension  of  slavery  was  a 
local  movement,  which  eventually  proved  success- 
ful, to  secure  Kansas  and  Nebraska  for  freedom  by 
planting  in  them  a  population  determined  to  make 
of  them  free  states.  For  this  purpose  an  Emigrant 
Aid  Company  was  organized  in  New  England  in 
1854  by  Eli  Thayer.  He  was  an  ardent  believer 
in  popular  sovereignty.  He  felt  sure,  and  events 
proved  him  right,  that  under  popular  sovereignty 


208  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

freedom  would  win.  A  charter  was  granted  by- 
Massachusetts,  capital  was  secured,  emigrants  were 
invited.  Its  object  was  to  plant  capital  in  the  new 
territory  in  advance  of  population,  and  thus  fur- 
nish the  incoming  immigrant  with  the  advantage 
of  miUs,  schools,  and  churches.  It  was  not  an 
abolition  society.  Financial  and  patriotic  motives 
commingled  in  the  intentions  of  its  founders.  Its 
aim  was  to  build  up  a  prosperous  community  in 
the  prosperity  of  which  the  immigrant  would  share. 
Its  methods  were  peaceable:  its  first  immigrants 
went  without  any  implements  of  war.  "  The  Emi- 
grant Aid  Company,"  says  Mr.  Spring  in  his 
history  of  Kansas,  "  never  bought  a  firelock  or 
furnished  its  patrons  with  warlike  equipments  of 
any  sort." 

From  the  outset  this  scheme  of  securing  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  for  freedom  met  with  opposition 
from  very  different  quarters.  The  men  who  loved 
peace  rather  than  liberty  opposed  it,  because  they 
foresaw  in  it  only  a  new  phase  of  the  interminable 
strife  which  they  abhorred.  They  anticipated  the 
incursion  of  armed  forces  from  Missouri,  and  as  a 
result  either  civil  war  or  the  forcible  overthrow  of 
the  free-state  settlers  by  their  more  warlike  and  less 
scrupulous  neighbors.  Conservative  anti-slavery 
men  regarded  it  as  wholly  impracticable.  They 
believed  that  these  New  England  immigrants,  who 
had  to  travel  fifteen  hundred  miles  to  the  battle- 
ground, would  be  no  matcli  for  the  slave  popula- 
tion  from   the   adjoining   state   of   Missouri,  who 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY  CAMPAIGN  209 

could  in  one  day  blot  out  all  that  the  free-soilers 
could  do  in  a  year.  The  abolitionists  condemned  it 
as  conunercial  in  its  spirit  and  impracticable  in  its 
methods.  "  The  Liberator "  denounced  the  Emi- 
grant Aid  Company  as  "  a  great  hindrance  to  the 
cause  of  freedom  and  a  mighty  curse  to  the  terri- 
tory." Wendell  Phillips  declared  that  "the  fate 
of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  was  sealed  the  first  hour 
Stephen  Arnold  Douglas  consented  to  play  his 
perfidious  part,"  for  so  his  abolition  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  was  regarded  by  the  anti-slavery 
sentiment  of  the  North.  To  take  possession  of  the 
country  by  industry,  by  roads,  by  mills,  by  churches, 
would  take,  he  said,  two  centuries.  Thomas  Went- 
worth  Higginson  maintained  that  even  if  the  Emi- 
grant Aid  Society  were  successful,  success  would 
achieve  nothing  ;  Nebraska  would  be  only  a  trans- 
planted Massachusetts,  and  the  original  Massachu- 
setts had  been  tried  and  found  wanting.^ 

From  the  first  Mr.  Beecher  threw  himself  heart 
and  soul  into  this  movement,  as  did  many  of  the 
New  England  clergy.  The  anticipations  of  the 
peace-lovers  were  presently  realized.  When  elec- 
tion day  came,  over  seventeen  hundred  Missourians 
came  over  into  Kansas,  and  swelled  the  pro-slavery 
vote.  When  the  next  election  day  came,  five  thou- 
sand Missourians  marched  into  Kansas  to  assist 
in  the  election  of  the  legislature.  Judges  of  elec- 
tion were  awed  into  submission  or  driven  away  by 
threats.  Protests  against  the  result  of  the  election 
1  Eli  Thayer :   The  Kansas  Crusade,  p.  101. 


210  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

were  signed  at  tlie  hazard  of  life.  Election  returns 
were  canvassed  by  the  governor,  in  a  room  filled 
with  men  armed  to  the  teeth.  But  these  Mis- 
sourians  came  into  Kansas  only  to  vote.  Southern 
presses  urged  Southern  men  to  carry  their  slaves 
with  them  into  the  new  territory.  "  Two  thou- 
sand slaves,"  said  Mr.  Stringfellow,  a  leader  of 
the  Missourians,  "  actually  lodged  in  Kansas  will 
make  a  slave  state  out  of  it.  Once  fairly  there, 
nobody  will  disturb  them."  But  no  slave-owner 
was  willing  to  act  on  this  advice.  Slaves  carried 
into  a  state  surrounded  by  freemen,  might  become 
discontented  and  run  away,  and  if  they  did,  their 
capture  would  certainly  be  difficult. 

What  should  the  New  England  settlers  do? 
Should  they  practice  non-resistance  and  submit  to 
be  overawed  by  incursions  from  Missouri,  or  should 
they  arm  for  self -protect  ion  ?  Many  of  the  sup- 
porters of  the  free-soil  cause  hesitated :  some  sim- 
ply dreaded  bloodshed;  some  on  principle  were 
opposed  to  all  use  of  force  ;  some  insisted  that 
Christ  taught  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance.  But 
the  free-soilers  on  the  ground  prepared  to  meet 
force  with  force.  Mr.  Beecher  defended  their  right 
so  to  do.    He  said  :  — 

The  New  Testament  declares  that  malign  revenge  or 
hatred  are  not  to  be  felt  toward  an  enemy.  We  do  not 
think  it  touches  at  all  the  question  of  what  kind  of  instru- 
ments men  may  employ.  It  simply  teaches  what  is  the 
state  of  mind  which  is  to  direct  either  kind  of  instrument, 
moral  or  physical.    If  we  reason  and  argue,  love,  not 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN  211 

malignity,  is  to  animate  us.  I£  we  are  in  extremities  and 
defend  our  lives  with  weapons,  it  is  not  to  be  in  hatred, 
but  calmly,  deliberately,  and  with  Christian  firmness. 
We  know  that  there  are  those  who  will  scoff  at  the  idea 
of  holding  a  sword  or  a  rifle  in  a  Christian  state  of  mind. 
I  think  it  just  as  easy  as  to  hold  an  argument  in  a  Chris- 
tian state  of  mind.  The  right  to  use  physical  force  we 
regard  as  a  very  important  one.  We  do  not  see  how  it 
may  be  right  to  use  a  little,  but  wrong  to  use  a  great 
deal  of  force,  when  self-defense  is  the  end,  and  when 
the  feelings  are  not  malignant,  but  simply  a  calm, 
conscientious  standing  for  right. 

He  urged  the  emigrants  to  go  to  Kansas ;  urged 
those  who  had  sons  in  Kansas  to  send  them  arms; 
urged  parents  to  pray  that  their  sons  "  may  not 
have  occasion  to  use  them,  but  if  they  must  be 
used,  that  the  sons  may  so  wield  them  that  the 
mother  be  not  ashamed  of  the  son  she  loves." 
He  practiced  what  he  preached  :  aided  in  taking 
up  contributions  to  arm  the  free-soilers ;  pledged 
twenty-five  rifles  from  Plymouth  Church ;  called 
for  subscriptions  in  the  lecture-room  of  the  church, 
for  their  purchase.  As  the  result  of  these  and  simi- 
lar subscriptions  in  various  parts  of  the  country  by 
the  friends  of  the  free-soilers,  rifles  were  sent  out 
to  Kansas  in  considerable  numbers.  One  or  more 
consignments  were  sent  in  boxes  labeled  "  books." 
It  is  said  that  one  consignment  was  labeled 
"  Bibles."  In  one  address  Mr.  Beecher  defended 
the  use  of  rifles,  which,  he  said,  would  be  more 
useful  than  Bibles  in  an  argument  with  wolves. 
For  one   or  the  other  of  these  reasons,  Sharpe's 


212  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

rifles  sent  to  the  free  -  soilers  were  dubbed 
"  Beecher's  Bibles."  In  fact,  the  possession  of  the 
rifles  by  the  free-soilers  sufficed  to  win  a  blood- 
less victory.  "  We  do  not  know,"  he  subsequently 
said,  "that  a  single  man  has  ever  been  injured 
with  them.  They  are  guiltless  of  blood."  Never- 
theless they  won  a  victory  where  otherwise  defeat 
would  have  been  certain.  The  famous  Wakarusa 
War  did  not  come  to  actual  hostilities.  The  Mis- 
sourian  invaders,  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  armed 
men,  encamped  on  the  Wakarusa  Kiver  in  the 
vicinity  of  Lawrence.  It  must  be  said  for  their 
courage  that  they  probably  did  not  fear  Sharpe's 
rifles  in  the  hands  of  the  free-soil  men ;  but  they 
did  fear  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  country  if 
they  should  open  the  first  battle  of  what  might  be 
a  civil  war.  When  they  found  that  there  was  a 
resolute  party  in  Kansas  determined  to  fight  for 
freedom,  they  withdrew  without  firing  a  shot.  The 
battle  for  liberty  was  won,  and,  so  far  as  events 
can  justify  moral  principles,  the  moral  principle 
which  Mr.  Beecher  had  advocated  was  justified  by 
the  peaceful  victory  achieved  by  the  possession  of 
Sharpe's  rifles. 

So  passes  ten  years  of  constant,  though  inter- 
mittent agitation,  probably  the  most  pohticaUy 
stormy  in  the  history  of  the  American  nation. 
Cowards  are  silent,  cautious  men  seek  for  com- 
promise, belligerent  men  inflame  popular  passion 
and  arouse  popular  prejudice,  honest  men  are  sorely 
perplexed.    The  issue  remains  always  the  same  ; 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  CAMPAIGN  213 

but  the  aspect  of  the  issue  constantly  changes. 
The  slave  power  grows  more  and  more  aggressive. 
It  first  asks  to  be  let  alone ;  then  it  demands  new 
territory  by  a  compromise  ;  then  it  repudiates  the 
compromise  it  formerly  demanded  and  seeks  new 
territory  through  popular  sovereignty  ;  then  it  repu- 
diates popular  sovereignty  and  wishes  the  national- 
ization of  slavery.  Simultaneously  the  anti-slavery 
sentiment  of  the  North  grows  more  definite,  more 
resolute,  more  wide-spread.  In  all  these  changes 
Mr.  Beecher  never  departs  from  the  principles 
avowed  in  his  first  public  utterance.  When  in 
May,  1856,  Charles  Sumner  is  struck  down  by 
Preston  Brooks  and  beaten  almost  to  death,  Mr, 
Beecher  seeks  not  to  inflame  the  passion  of  the 
North  against  the  assailant,  but  against  the  power 
which  that  assailant  too  well  represents.  "  The 
nature  of  slavery,"  he  says,  in  a  public  meeting  in 
Brooklyn,  "  has  been  for  a  long  time  to  make 
encroachment.  But  the  time  has  come  when  it  has 
walked  into  the  government.  It  takes  possession 
of  the  Senate  Chamber."  John  Brown,  erroneously 
assuming  that  the  slaves  were  eager  for  their  lib- 
erty, and  if  provided  with  a  leader  will  arise,  throw 
off  the  yoke  of  slavery,  and  win  freedom  for  them- 
selves, undertakes  his  fatuous  raid  into  Virginia. 
Mr.  Beecher  believes  neither  in  the  paroxysm  of 
indignation  nor  in  the  passion  of  enthusiasm.  His 
prayer  for  John  Brown  and  the  other  imprisoned 
raiders  indicates  a  principle  which  history  confirms. 
"  Remember  these  that  are  in  prison  —  Thy  servants 


214  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

who  in  Thy  providence  have  been  permitted  to  lift 
up  their  hands  in  a  mistaken  way,  but  out  of  which 
Thou  wilt  yet  induce  good."  When  a  public  hall 
is  denied  Wendell  Phillips  for  a  lecture,  because 
of  his  unpopidarity,  Mr.  Beecher,  radically  as  he 
differs  from  Mr.  Phillij^s  in  both  spirit  and  methods, 
secures  from  the  trustees  the  use  of  Plymouth 
Church  for  the  obnoxious  lecturer.  Issuing  a  call 
to  battle  against  the  compromise  measures,  Mr. 
Beecher  gives  Mr.  Clay  sincere  praise  for  desir- 
ing peace.  But  when  Daniel  Webster,  bom  and 
bred  in  the  atmosphere  of  New  England,  becomes 
the  advocate  of  this  same  measure,  he  denounces 
the  son  of  Massachusetts  for  his  apostasy. 

Nor  is  he,  during  these  ten  years,  a  man  of  one 
idea.  He  is  not  merely  an  anti-slavery  reformer. 
Every  event  which  concerns  the  liberty  of  his 
fellow  men  concerns  him.  When  Louis  Kossuth 
comes  to  America,  Plymouth  Church  is  put  at  his 
disposal,  and  Mr.  Beecher  in  introducing  him  calls 
on  the  audience  to  "  bear  witness  to  me  how  often 
from  this  place  prayers  have  been  offered  and  tears 
shed  when  we  have  heard  of  the  struggles  of 
Hungary."  When  the  advent  of  Father  Matthew 
has  revived  interest  in  the  temperance  cause,  Mr. 
Beecher  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity,  and 
speaks  on  the  same  platform  with  P.  T.  Barnum, 
Dr.  George  B.  Cheever,  and  Dr.  Theodore  F.  Cuy- 
ler,  for  temperance.  When  the  electric  cable  to 
unite  the  old  world  and  the  new  is  to  be  laid,  Mr. 
Beecher  is  among  the  early  visitors  to  the  frigate 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  CAMPAIGN  215 

Niagara,  which  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  laymg 
it,  and  writes  of  the  coming  event  as  one  which 
will  "  bind  two  continents  together,  and  be  a  road 
for  the  business  of  the  world."  The  Church  and 
amusements  had  always  been  thought  to  belong 
in  different  fields,  and  the  duty  of  the  Church  as 
discharged  in  warning  the  young  against  tabooed 
amusements.  In  1857  we  find  Mr.  Beecher  preach- 
ing on  social  amusements,  and  recommending  gym- 
nastics, wrestling,  bowling,  boating,  and  field  sports 
generally.  Three  weeks  later  he  is  pleading  the 
cause  of  the  American  Indian  in  a  public  meeting 
in  New  York  City.  The  corner-stone  of  a  new  city 
armory  is  laid.  He  is  there  to  speak,  on  broad 
lines,  of  municipal  and  national  patriotism.  The 
centenary  of  Robert  Burns  is  to  be  celebrated. 
Mr.  Beecher  gives  the  memorial  address :  "  The 
nation  which  reads  Eobert  Burns  in  the  nursery 
will  never  have  tyrants  in  the  parliament  house. 
In  all  his  weakness,  sorrows,  joys,  and  fears,  he  is 
universal  in  his  sympathies.  .  .  .  Dead,  he  has 
made  the  world  rich.  His  life  was  a  failure  until 
he  died ;  and  ever  since  it  has  been  a  marvelous 
success."  A  reading-room  and  a  coffee-house  are 
to  be  opened  in  the  Bowery  —  one  of  the  first 
of  the  now  numerous  attempts  to  improve  men 
through  other  than  conventionally  religious  means. 
Mr.  Beecher  is  there  to  indorse  it.  Italy  is  engaged 
in  her  finally  successfid  effort  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  foreign  bondage  and  become  a  free  and  united 
nation.    Mr.  Beecher  joins  in  a  call  for  a  public 


216  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

meeting,  addresses  it,  and  helps  to  raise  a  fund  for 
Garibaldi's  aid.  He  speaks  on  the  same  platform 
with  Lucy  Stone  Blackwell  for  the  emancipation 
of  woman :  urges  the  enlargement  of  her  influence 
because  it  will  involve  an  enlargement  of  her  char- 
acter ;  insists  that  "  she  is  better  fitted  for  home 
when  she  is  fitted  for  something  else."  If  he  be- 
lieved that  the  ballot  for  every  one  is  necessary 
both  as  a  symbol  and  as  a  defense  of  liberty,  he 
shared  with  his  contemporaries  an  opinion  which 
experience  on  a  large  scale  has  modified  in  the 
minds  of  many  who  are  devoted  to  human  free- 
dom. 

There  lies  before  me  as  I  write  a  journal  kept  by 
a  member  of  Plymouth  Church,  during  a  period 
extending  from  1850  to  1869.  I  am  amazed  as  I 
turn  its  pages  over  at  the  mere  physical  endurance 
of  this  man.  For  the  ten  years  with  which  in  this 
chapter  I  have  to  do,  he  was  engaged  almost  daily 
in  public  service.  The  first  four  evenings  of  the 
week  he  was  generally  speaking  on  some  public 
platform.  As  if  moral  reforms  were  not  enough 
to  keep  his  brain  busy,  he  engaged  in  the  work  of 
lecturing.  The  lyceum  lecture  was  then  one  of  the 
great  instruments  for  public  education,  and  Mr. 
Beecher  was  in  constant  demand  as  a  lyceum 
lecturer,  especially  after  the  Fremont  campaign. 
Commerce,  art,  life,  literature,  everything  but 
theology,  furnished  him  topics.  Amoifg  his  themes 
are  "-  The  Ministry  of  the  Beautiful,"  "  Character," 
"  Amusements,"    "  Success    in    Life,"  "  Wit  and 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  CAMPAIGN  217 

Humor,"  "  Mirthfulness,"  "  The  Commonwealtli." 
Beside  all  this  he  contributed  to  the  press  frequent 
articles,  grave  and  gay,  long  and  short,  sometimes 
serious  discussions  of  public  themes,  sometimes 
chatty  sketches  of  personal  experiences  or  observa- 
tions. 

This  more  public  ministry  did  not  divert  him 
from  his  ministry  to  and  in  his  own  church.  He 
was  almost  invariably  back  from  his  campaigning 
and  lecturing  in  time  to  be  at  the  Friday  evening 
meeting.  At  this  meeting,  which  was  always 
crowded,  he  gave  what  he  called  a  "  lecture-room 
talk,"  which  was  really  a  brief  lecture.  In  these 
lecture-room  talks  Mr.  Beecher  rarely  dealt  with 
the  topics  of  his  weekly  campaigning.  His  themes 
were  largely  those  of  personal  religious  experience. 
Religion  has  to  do  both  with  man's  relation  to  his 
fellow  man  and  with  his  personal  relation  to  his 
God.  In  his  weekly  campaigns  Mr.  Beecher  dealt 
wholly  with  the  former.  In  his  lecture-room 
talks  he  generally  dealt  with  the  latter.  His 
themes  were  such  as  "  Communion,"  "  Tears," 
"  Groping  after  God,"  "  Praise  and  Prayer," 
"  Christian  Joyousness,"  "  The  Spontaneous  Good- 
ness of  God."  Following  the  lecture  was  ahnost 
always  an  after-meeting  which  was  sometimes  social, 
sometimes  pastoral,  sometimes  executive  ;  in  which 
inquirers  were  met,  guidance  given,  plans  of  church 
work  briefly  discussed.  Saturday  was  a  holiday ; 
only  the  most  pressing  exigency  was  allowed  to 
break  in  upon  this  rest-day  of  the  preacher.    After 


218  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

he  moved  to  Peekskill  from  Lenox,  where  he  at  first 
had  his  simimer  retreat,  he  often  went  up  for  the 
day  to  his  country  home  in  the  spring  and  fall 
when  weather  invited  to  outdoor  occupations.  On 
Sunday  he  was  rarely  absent  from  his  pulpit.  His 
people  were  generous  ;  they  made  no  demands  for 
pastoral  service,  and  he  rendered  very  little  ;  but 
they  were  always  disappointed  when  he  was  absent 
from  his  pulpit,  and  he  knew  it.  Exchanges  were 
no  relief  to  him,  for  he  had  no  old  sermons.  So  he 
almost  invariably  preached,  and  habitually  twice  on 
Sunday,  and  always  to  crowded  congregations.  The 
pews  and  aisles  were  always  full;  more  often  than 
not,  all  standing-room  was  taken  ;  the  pulpit-stairs 
were  regularly  used  for  seats  by  the  young  men  and 
children  of  the  congregation  ;  often  hundreds  were 
turned  away  unable  to  gaiu  entrance  to  the  church. 
In  the  congregation  were  many  Western  and  South- 
ern merchants,  coming  to  the  city,  according  to  the 
fashion  of  those  days,  to  buy  goods ;  and  many  men 
of  note  in  aU  the  ranks  of  life.  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson,  A.  Bronson  Alcott,  Henry  D.  Thoreau, 
Walt  Whitman,  Louis  Kossuth,  Abraham  Lincoln 
were  a  few  among  the  notabilities.  And  it  was  not 
chiefly  curiosity  to  hear  the  reformer  on  public 
themes  that  drew  this  congregation.  Sermons  on 
the  topic  of  the  hour  were  occasional  and  excep- 
tional. His  sermons,  as  his  lecture-room  talks,  were 
largely  on  topics  of  personal  life,  —  individual 
rather  than  sociological. 

During  all  this  time  Plymouth  Church  was  not 


THE  ANTI-SLAVEKY  CAMPAIGN  219 

merely  a  great  congregation,  attracted  by  the  fame 
of  a  great  preacher.  It  was  a  living  church,  com- 
posed of  men  and  women  actively  engaged  in  Chris- 
tian and  philanthropic  work,  under  the  inspiration 
which  the  preacher  furnished.  The  Sunday-school 
was  so  large  as  to  fill  the  Sunday-school  room  full 
to  overflowing ;  at  times  the  lecture-room  had  to  be 
used  to  accommodate  the  overflow.  The  spiritual 
efficiency  of  a  church  is  indicated  by  the  additions 
to  its  membership  upon  confession  of  faith.  Dur- 
ing these  ten  years  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  united  with  Plymouth  Church  on  confession 
of  their  faith.  Its  spiritual  life  is  indicated  by  the 
response  it  makes  to  a  general  awakening  in  the 
community.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  stirring 
events  that  the  church  experienced  the  revival  of 
which  I  have  spoken  in  a  previous  chapter.  Dur- 
ing this  revival  Mr.  Beecher's  attention  was  con- 
centrated on  the  spiritual  work  in  his  church,  for 
to  this  he  always  gave  the  first  place,  and  from  the 
daily  morning  prayer-meetings  held  during  that 
revival  he  was  rarely  absent.  In  addition  to  his 
platform  work,  his  contributions  to  the  press,  his 
preaching,  and  the  special  ministry  involved  in  two 
successive  revivals,  Mr.  Beecher  also  found  or  made 
time  to  prepare  the  "  Plymouth  Collection,"  of 
which  I  have  already  spoken,  and  which  was  fin- 
ished and  published  in  1855. 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Beecher  concentrated  his  en- 
ergies on  liis  public  teaching,  now  by  his  pen,  now 
on  the  platform,  now  in  the  pulpit.    He  did  little 


220  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

or  no  personal  pastoral  work  from  house  to  house, 
little  executive  work  in  administration  of  church 
activities.  He  inspired  the  church,  and  left  it  to 
direct  its  own  activities.  But  they  were  not  confined 
to  those  which  are  customary  to  church  life  in  a 
great  city  ;  and  something  of  the  responsibility  for 
them  must  have  fallen  upon  him.  For  the  Plymouth 
Church  edifice  was  not  idle  throughout  the  week. 
It  was  the  best  auditorimn  in  Brooklyn  for  public 
lectures,  and  was  in  frequent  use.  It  served  as  a 
lecture-hall  as  well  as  meeting-house.  Among  the 
lecturers  who  were  heard  here  were  Thackeray  on 
the  "  Four  Georges,"  Professor  Youmans  on  "  Alco- 
hol and  its  Uses,"  John  B.  Gough  on  temperance. 
Professor  Mitchell  on  astronomy,  Charles  Sumner, 
Joshua  R.  Giddings,  George  W.  Curtis  on  aspects 
of  the  slavery  question,  and  Schuyler  Colfax  and 
Thomas  Corwin,  on  I  know  not  what.  Abraham 
Lincoln,  it  is  said,  was  to  have  lectured  in  Ply- 
mouth Church  on  coming  East  in  1860,  but  was 
transferred  to  Cooper  Union  in  order  the  more 
effectually  to  reach  a  New  York  audience. 

Yet  it  would  be  a  mistake  were  the  reader  to 
suppose  that  either  Mr.  Beecher  or  Plymouth 
Church  was  what  is  ordinarily  called  popular.  If 
he  was  the  most  admired  orator  and  the  most  be- 
loved preacher  of  his  time,  he  was  also  the  most 
bitterly  hated,  excepting  only  Theodore  Parker. 
No  language  was  too  bitter,  no  epithets  too  stinging 
to  be  applied  to  him.  It  was  declared  that  "  his 
pulpit  has  been  turned  into  a  political  engine  to 


THE   ANTI-SLAVERY   CAMPAIGN  221 

overthrow  the  institutions  of  the  Southern  States, 
to  dissolve  the  Union,  and  to  foment  civil  war :  " 
he  was  characterized  as  one  of  the  clergy  "  who 
attack  not  those  sinners  who  hear  them,  but  those 
who  are  a  thousand  miles  away ;  "  he  was  classed 
with  Garrison  and  Wendell  PhiUips,  and  all  three 
were  warned  that  "  a  trip  to  Europe  just  now 
would  prove  very  beneficial  to  their  health ;  "  that 
"  their  ease  and  comfort  will  be  anything  but  safe 
in  this  country  in  six  months  from  this  time  "  (De- 
cember, 1860).  These  unambiguous  hints  came 
from  a  metropolitan  journal  of  no  insignificant 
reputation.  Jewish  rabbis  and  Christian  preachers 
added  their  voice  of  condemnation  against  "  all  our 
notorious  abolition  preachers,  who  have  resorted  to 
the  most  violent  processes  of  interpretation  to  avoid 
the  meaning  of  plain  Scripture  texts,"  and  "  who 
make  that  to  be  sin  which  in  the  Bible  is  not  de- 
clared to  be  sin."  This  hostility  reached  its  climax 
after  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  That  fall 
Plymouth  Church  was  threatened  with  a  mob.  One 
evening  the  services  were  interrupted  by  a  stone 
thrown  from  outside  which  came  crashing  through 
the  window.  But  the  congregation  fell  into  no 
panic ;  after  the  sermon  an  extemporized  body- 
guard followed  the  preacher  to  his  home  ;  no  further 
violence  was  attempted ;  and  Mr.  Beecher,  in  bid- 
ding his  friends  good-night,  made  a  reassuring 
speech  from  the  steps  of  his  house  :  "  I  do  not  think 
there  is  any  occasion  for  alarm,  nor  do  I  imagine 
that  I  really  need  your  protection.    If  there  had 


222  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

been,  and  I  had  fallen,  it  would  have  been  the  best 
thing  that  could  have  happened  for  the  cause  ;  but 
nothing  mil  hajDpen  to  me  or  to  my  house.  I  have 
not  hved  in  this  city  for  thirteen  years  for  nothing." 
The  friendly  crowd  responded  with  cheers  and 
cries  of  "That's  so,"  and  separated,  and  so  the 
incident  came  to  an  end. 

Abraham  Lincoln's  speech  in  Cooper  Union, 
February  27,  1860,  won  for  him  the  nomination 
to  the  presidency  by  the  Republican  party.  His 
speech  became  the  platform  of  the  party.  In  its 
j)rinciples  and  in  its  spirit  it  represented  what  Mr. 
Beecher  had  for  ten  years  urged  his  fellow  citizens 
to  incorporate  in  a  national  resolve  and  embody  in 
national  action.  It  therefore  made  Abraham  Lin- 
coln Mr.  Beecher's  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
In  the  triumph  of  the  Republican  party  upon  this 
platform,  and  with  this  man  as  its  leader,  the 
epoch  of  anti-slavery  agitation  came  to  an  end; 
the  epoch  of  civil  war  began.  For  from  the  day 
when  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  was  an- 
nounced, the  issue  before  the  people  of  the  North 
regarding  slavery  was  changed.  It  was  no  longer, 
Would  they  consent  to  the  extension  of  slavery  ? 
That  question  was  answered.  It  was,  Would  they 
respond  to  Abraham  Lincoln's  appeal :  "  Let  us 
have  faith  that  right  makes  might ;  and  in  that 
faith  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we 
understand  it"? 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    CIVIL   WAR 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected  in  November,  1860  ; 
his  inauguration  did  not  take  place  until  March  4, 
1861 ;  this  quasi  interregnum  of  four  months  be- 
tween the  election  and  the  inauguration  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  cost  the  nation 
unnumbered  thousands  of  dollars  and  unnumbered 
thousands  of  hves.  That  the  Civil  War  could  have 
been  absolutely  prevented  is  not  probable  ;  that  its 
duration  would  have  been  greatly  lessened  if  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  taken  the  reins  of  government  within 
four  weeks  after  his  election  cannot  be  doubted,  for 
during  the  four  months  of  interregnum  the  nation 
was  without  a  leader.  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not  lead 
because  he  was  not  Presicjent ;  Mr.  Buchanan  could 
not  lead  because  he  had  not  capacity.  The  nation 
was  confronting  a  great  crisis,  and  Mr.  Buchanan 
was  not  the  man  for  a  crisis.  A  skillful  diplomat, 
a  shrewd  politician,  skillful  in  the  evasion  of  diffi- 
cult questions,  but  without  a  statesman's  ability  to 
understand  or  a  brave  man's  courage  to  meet  them, 
incapable  of  comprehending  a  great  situation  or 
grasping  a  great  principle,  Mr.  Buchanan  was 
exactly  not  the  man  for  the  place. 

There  were  in  the  country  two  conceptions  of 


224  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

the  nature  of  the  federal  government.  The  United 
States  of  America  is  confessedly  a  union  of  sover- 
eign states.  Ought  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  partner- 
ship from  which  any  partner  may  withdraw  at  will, 
or  a  marriage  which  once  consummated  is  indis- 
soluble ?  The  South  held  the  first  view,  the  North 
the  second.  The  sovereignty  resides  in  the  people. 
Was  the  supreme  expression  of  this  sovereignty  in 
the  State  or  in  the  Nation  ?  in  an  issue  between 
the  two  which  was  the  final  arbiter?  The  South 
answered.  The  State ;  the  North  answered,  The 
Nation.  Either  view  was  self -consistent ;  for  either 
view  rational  argument  was  possible.  Mr.  Buch- 
anan, versed  in  the  art  of  compromising  by  the 
simple  method  of  conceding  something  in  every 
controversy  to  each  disputant,  attempted  to  solve 
this  controversy  by  such  a  compromise.  He  said 
in  effect  to  the  North :  "  You  are  right  —  this  is 
a  nation ;  the  union  of  the  states  is  a  marriage ; 
no  state  has  a  right  to  secede."  He  said  in  effect 
to  the  South  :  "  You  are  right  —  the  sovereignty 
of  the  state  is  supreme ;  the  sovereignty  of  the  fed- 
eral government  is  subordinate,  and  although  no 
state  has  a  right  to  secede,  the  federal  government 
has  no  right  to  coerce  it  into  submission  if  it  does 
secede."  Such  a  compromise,  pronounced  by  the 
chief  executive  of  the  federal  government,  was 
entirely  satisfactory  to  the  secessionists ;  they  did 
not  in  the  least  care  what  theory  Mr.  Buchanan 
held  respecting  the  right  of  a  state  to  secede,  so 
long  as  he  refused  to  use  or  aUow  to  be  used  the 


THE   CIVIL  WAR  225 

forces  of  the  federal  government  in  preventing  se- 
cession. Under  his  administration  seven  states  were 
permitted  to  hold  conventions  and  proclaim  their 
withdrawal  from  the  Union  ;  the  Secretary  of  War 
was  allowed  to  retain  his  post  and  use  his  power  to 
equip  the  seceding  states  for  the  impending  con- 
flict ;  the  United  States  brigadier-general  com- 
manding the  Department  of  Texas  was  allowed  to 
turn  over  his  entire  army,  with  all  the  posts  and 
fortifications,  arms,  munitions  of  war,  horses  and 
equipments,  to  the  Confederate  authorities.  Be- 
fore Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration,  and  under  Mr. 
Buchanan's  administration,  the  Confederate  States 
had  taken  possession  of  every  fort,  arsenal,  dock- 
yard, mint,  custom-house,  and  court-house  in  their 
territory  except  three  —  Fort  Sumter,  Fort  Pick- 
ens, and  Key  West.  This  was  not  accomplished 
without  strong  opposition  in  the  South.  In  South 
Carolina,  when  the  minister  first  dropped  from  the 
service  the  prayer  for  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  James  L.  Pettigrew,  the  foremost  lawyer 
of  the  state,  rose  in  his  pew,  and  slowly  and  with 
distinct  voice  repeated,  "  Most  humbly  and  heartily 
we  beseech  Thee  with  Thy  favor  to  uphold  and 
bless  Thy  servant  the  President  of  these  United 
States  ;  "  then,  placing  his  prayer-book  in  the  rack, 
withdrew,  with  his  wife,  from  the  church,  which  he 
never  reentered.  In  Georgia,  Alexander  H.  Ste- 
phens, easily  the  foremost  statesman  in  the  South, 
argued  earnestly  against  secession  ;  pointed  out 
the  fact  that  the  Republican   President  faced  a 


226  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Democratic  majority,  both  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  in  the  Senate,  —  could  carry  no 
legislation,  could  appoint  no  officer,  could  not  even 
form  a  cabinet  hostile  to  the  interests  of  the  coun- 
try, as  the  Democratic  majority  interpreted  those 
interests.  It  may  fairly  be  doubted  whether  the 
ordinance  of  secession  would  have  commanded  a 
popular  vote  in  any  state  in  the  South  except 
South  Carolina  if  the  vote  could  have  been  pre- 
ceded by  a  full  and  free  discussion,  if  it  could  have 
been  unattended  with  threatening  or  violence,  and 
if  the  Unionists  could  have  had  the  moral  support 
of  the  federal  administration. 

But  it  must  be  said,  in  apology  for  Mr.  Buchanan, 
if  not  in  defense  of  him,  that  if  public  sentiment 
was  divided  in  the  South,  it  was  also  divided  in  the 
North.  The  radical  abolitionists  were  opposed  to 
coercion  and  welcomed  secession.  They  had  them- 
selves been  secessionists  from  the  first.  Not  a  few 
of  those  who  voted  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  when  they 
found  themselves  confronting  the  peril  of  war, 
would  have  been  almost  ready  to  cancel  their  vote, 
and  were  quite  ready  to  draw  back  from  the  prin- 
ciples to  which  he  was  committed  and  from  which 
he  never  swerved.  The  commercial  disasters  which 
war  would  involve  appalled  some,  the  terrible 
tragedy  of  war  apj)alled  others,  and  an  honest  con- 
viction of  the  impracticability  of  coercion  con- 
vinced still  others.  Three  days  after  the  election 
tlie  "  New  York  Tribune,"  the  most  influential 
journal  of  the  Republican  party,  in  a  leading  ar- 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  227 

tide  said :  "  If  the  cotton  states  decide  that  they 
can  do  better  out  of  the  Union  than  in  it,  we 
insist  on  letting  them  go  in  peace.  .  .  .  We  hope 
never  to  live  in  a  republic  whereof  one  section  is 
pinned  to  the  residue  by  bayonets."  Most  extraor- 
dinary compromises  were  proposed  to  avoid  the 
peril  of  war.  It  was  proposed  that  the  Constitu- 
tion should  be  amended  so  as  to  provide  for  slave 
territory  south  of  a  given  line  and  free  territory 
north  of  a  given  line,  each  inviolate  from  interfer- 
ence ;  that  slavery  should  never  be  interfered  with 
in  the  territories  ;  that  a  clause  should  be  inserted 
in  the  Constitution  recognizing  the  doctrine  of 
states  rights  and  denying  the  power  of  coercion  to 
the  general  government ;  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should 
resign  and  another  president  be  elected  less  objec- 
tionable to  the  South  ;  that  the  office  of  president 
should  be  abolished  and  a  council  of  three  sub- 
stituted, each  of  whom  should  have  a  veto  on  every 
public  act.  Those  who  were  most  loyal,  not  only  to 
the  government,  but  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Republican  party,  were  divided  in  their 
opinion  respecting  the  best  policy  to  be  pursued. 
It  soon  became  plain  that  secession  of  the  cotton 
states  could  not  be  prevented  by  compromise.  But 
it  was  not  so  clear  that  it  was  impossible  to  dis- 
suade the  border  states  from  casting  in  their  lot 
with  the  Confederacy.  To  prevent  them  from  so 
doing  became  the  first  object  of  leading  men  whose 
loyalty  to  the  nation  and  to  liberty  could  not  be 
questioned.    So  clear-headed  and  loyal  a  statesman 


228  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

as  Charles  Francis  Adams  advocated  the  appoint- 
ment of  committees  and  summoning  of  conferences 
and  shaping  of  a  compromise  to  secure  this  result. 
That  during  such  a  time  of  intellectual  confusion  a 
man  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  mould,  temper,  and  educa- 
tion should  have  been  perplexed,  irresolute,  and 
vacillating  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 

In  all  this  time  of  confused  counsels  there  were 
some  men,  the  strongest,  as  we  can  now  see,  who 
never  for  a  moment  lost  sight  of  the  one  guiding 
principle  that  concession  should  never  more  be 
made  to  the  slave  power  under  any  pretext 
whatever,  be  the  consequences  what  they  might. 
Among  these  were  the  silent  man  at  Springfield, 
and  the  eloquent  man  in  Brooklyn,  neither  of 
whom  for  an  instant  hesitated.  In  December 
Abraham  Lincoln  wrote  to  Mr.  Washburne : 
"  Prevent  as  far  as  possible  any  of  our  friends 
from  demoralizing  themselves  and  their  cause  by 
entertaining  propositions  for  compromise  of  any 
sort  on  slavery  extension.  There  is  no  possible 
compromise  upon  it  but  what  puts  us  under  again, 
and  all  our  work  to  do  over  again."  There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  at  this  time  Mr.  Lincoln 
and  Mr.  Beecher  had  any  understanding  or  any 
correspondence  with  each  other ;  but  what  Mr. 
Lincoln  said  in  occasional  private  letters  Mr. 
Beecher  said  with  vigor  from  the  pulpit,  on  the 
platform,  and  from  the  press.  Mr.  Beecher  was 
not  a  diplomat ;  he  had  no  skill  in  political  arts ; 
he  did  not  know  how  to  propose  a  scheme  to  blind 


THE  CIVIL   WAR  229 

the  eyes  of  his  opponents  and  to  tide  over  a  diffi- 
culty, —  a  scheme  to  be  abandoned  as  soon  as  the 
crisis  was  passed.  Despite  rumors  and  reports  that 
he  subsequently  became  a  political  adviser  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  a  still  more  influential  adviser  of 
President  Grant,  I  am  not  able  to  find  any  his- 
torical evidence  that  he  ever  was  the  adviser  of 
either.  He  is  a  wise  man  who  knows  his  own  powers 
and  his  own  limitations,  exercises  the  first,  and 
keeps  within  the  second.  It  was  Mr.  Beecher's 
genius  to  create  that  public  sentiment  which  un- 
derlies and  gives  force  to  political  action  in  a 
democracy,  and  to  give  effective  and  eloquent 
expression  to  that  sentiment  when  it  had  been 
created.  To  this  work  he  gave  himself  with  single- 
ness of  purpose,  for  he  understood  the  mission  to 
which  he  had  been  called  better  than  any  of  his 
critics,  better  than  some  of  his  eulogists. 

During  this  period  of  interregnum  there  were 
two  services  which  coidd  be  rendered  by  a  man 
who  had  access  to  the  pubhc  mind  and  conscience. 
He  could  do  something  to  persuade  the  Union  men 
in  the  South  that  their  constitutional  rights  and 
liberties  were  not  in  danger.  They  were  not 
wholly  without  ground  for  their  apprehension,  cer- 
tainly not  without  excuse  for  it,  for  the  vehement 
and  inflammatory  writings  and  speeches  of  the 
abolitionists  had  been  circulated  far  and  wide. 
But  it  was  even  more  important  to  inform  the 
mind,  sustain  the  courage,  and  strengthen  the 
resolution  of  the  anti-slavery  majority  in  the  North, 


230  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

to  make  all  the  men  who  had  voted  for  Abraham 
Lincoln  realize  what  Abraham  Lincoln  realized  — 
that  no  compromise  of  any  sort  concerning  the 
extension  of  slavery  was  possible.  To  this  double 
purpose  Mr.  Beecher  gave  himself. 

At  first,  in  common  with  the  great  leaders  of 
the  Republican  party,  he  did  not  believe  that  there 
was  serious  peril  of  war.  The  Union-savers  had 
cried  "  Wolf  !  Wolf !  "  so  often  when  there  was  no 
wolf  that  the  anti-slavery  reformers  had  come  to 
believe  that  the  beast  did  not  exist.  They  dis- 
credited the  courage  of  the  South,  as  the  South- 
erners discredited  the  courage  of  the  North  ;  they 
thought  the  threat  of  disunion  was  uttered  only  for 
political  purposes,  and  had  been  uttered  much  too 
often ;  that,  to  quote  Charles  Francis  Adams's 
summary  of  his  father's  opinion,  ''  The  South  was 
not  in  earnest,  that  its  threats  were  mere  brag- 
gadocio, that  its  interests  and  safety  combined  to 
keep  it  in  the  Union."  Asked  in  March,  1860, 
to  speak  on  how  to  save  the  Union,  Mr.  Beecher 
began  his  speech  by  saying,  "  It  is  somewhat  em- 
barrassing to  speak  on  this  subject,  because  I  con- 
sider that  the  Union  is  in  no  danger.  .  .  .  The 
Union  was  never  so  firm  as  it  is  now."  In  Novem- 
ber following  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  he  ex- 
pressed again  the  same  confidence  in  even  stronger 
terms :  "  It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  South 
with  all  her  interest  in  the  Union  will  leave  it,  and 
therefore  I  say  the  South  will  never  leave  the  Union. 
There  is  a  man  now  at  the  helm  of  the  ship  of  state 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  '    231 

who  will  guide  her  safely  through  the  perils  which 
encompass  her,  a  man  who  knows  not  what  it  is  to 
be  scared."  Mr.  Beecher  did  not  then  realize  the 
far-reaching  plan  of  the  Confederate  leaders,  which 
involved  the  establishment  of  a  great  semi-tropical 
republic,  founded  on  an  African  slave-trade,  and 
including  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  the  West 
Indies,  united  with  the  slave-holding  states  of 
North  America ;  nor  did  he  realize  the  power 
of  popular  passion,  in  a  democratic  community, 
when  inflamed,  to  disregard  all  considerations  of 
self-interest. 

But,  as  time  went  on,  and  the  peril  of  civil  war 
became  more  inuninent,  the  result  was  to  make  Mr. 
Beecher's  insistence  on  uncompromising  adherence 
to  principle  more  vigorous.  On  the  29th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1860,  he  preached  a  Thanksgiving  sermon,  the 
character  of  which  is  indicated  by  its  title,  "  Against 
a  Compromise  of  Principle."  In  this  sermon  he  said 
that  there  were  three  courses  possible :  —  (1)  To 
go  over  to  the  South.  (2)  To  compromise  principle. 
(3)  To  maintain  principle  on  just  and  constitutional 
grounds,  and  abide  the  issue.  The  first  was  not  to 
be  thought  of.  Compromise  was  made  impossible 
by  the  inherent  nature  of  the  issue.  "  To  be  of 
any  use  compromise  must  make  the  slaves  con- 
tented, slavery  economical,  slave  states  as  pros- 
perous as  free  states.  Compromise  must  shut  the 
mouth  of  free  speech,  .  .  .  must  cure  the  intol- 
erance of  the  plantation,  .  .  .  must  make  evil  as 
prosperous  as  good,  enforced   slavery  as   fruitful 


232  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

as  free  labor."  The  North  ought  to  have  nothing 
to  do  with  halfway  measures  or  halfway  men.  To 
the  Jemands  of  the  Southern  secession  leaders  this 
should  be  its  answer  :  — 

The  North  loves  liberty,  and  will  have  it.  We  will 
not  aggress  on  you.  Keep  your  institutions  within  your 
own  bounds  ;  we  will  not  hinder  you.  We  will  not  take 
advantage  to  destroy,  or  one  whit  to  abate,  your  fair 
political  prerogatives.  You  have  already  gained  advan- 
tages of  us.  These  we  will  allow  you  to  hold.  You 
shall  have  the  Constitution  intact,  and  its  full  benefit. 
The  full  might  and  power  of  public  sentiment  in  the 
North  shall  guarantee  to  you  everything  that  history 
and  the  Constitution  give  you.  But  if  you  ask  us  to 
augment  the  area  of  slavery ;  to  cooperate  with  you  in 
cursing  new  territory ;  if  you  ask  us  to  make  the  air  of 
the  North  favorable  for  a  slave's  breath,  we  will  not  do 
it !  We  love  liberty  as  much  as  you  love  slavery,  and 
we  shall  stand  by  our  rights  with  all  the  vigor  with 
which  we  mean  to  stand  by  justice  toward  you.^ 

In  reading  these  words  the  reader  should  remem- 
ber that  they  were  uttered  when  the  Northern  pul- 
pits and  Northern  press  were  clamoring  for  some 
impossible  compromise,  when  Congress  was  debat- 
ing haKway  measures,  when  halfway  men  were 
endeavoring  to  contrive  some  platform  of  conces- 
sion to  slavery  and  secession  that  would  postpone 
the  inevitable  conflict,  when  abolitionists  were  ad- 
vising to  let  the  erring  sisters  depart  in  peace. 

Six  weeks  later,  on  a  fast-day  appointed  by  the 
President,  speaking  on  "  Our  Blameworthiness," 

1  Patriotic  Addresses,  p.  242. 


THE  CIVIL   WAR  233 

Mr.  Beecher  again  indicted  slavery  as  "  the  most 
alarming  and  most  fertile  cause  of  national  sin. 
.  .  .  Not  only  a  sin  but  a  fountain  from  wiiich 
have  flowed  many  sins."  Commonplace  as  this 
utterance  may  seem  now,  it  did  not  seem  so  then. 
On  the  same  day  on  which  Mr.  Beecher  was  de- 
claring that  slavery  was  the  great  national  sin,  a 
neighboring  Brooldyn  preacher  was  arguing  that 
slavery  was  indorsed  by  the  Bible,  and  was  urging 
the  then  familiar  argument  that  the  blameworthi- 
ness of  the  nation  consisted  in  the  fanaticism  which 
denounced  slavery.  I  remember  on  that  same  fast- 
day  attending  a  union  service  in  a  Western  city  at 
which  several  addresses  urging  to  repentance  were 
made,  and  only  one  of  the  speakers  referred  to 
slavery.  By  the  others  not  the  most  distant  allu- 
sion was  made  to  it,  while  every  other  sin  in  the 
calendar,  from  Sabbath-breaking  to  covetousness, 
came  in  for  a  safe  and  harmless  denunciation. 

As  might  be  expected,  when  by  the  bombard- 
ment of  Fort  Sumter  the  Confederacy  threw  down 
the  challenge  of  war  to  the  federal  government, 
Mr.  Beecher  was  prompt  to  respond.  He  was  ab- 
sent lecturing  when  the  news  of  the  bombardment 
was  flashed  over  the  wires.  Returning  to  his  home, 
he  gave  on  Sunday  morning  his  message  for  the 
hour  to  his  congregation.  The  commercial  fears 
which  counseled  a  new  attempt  at  compromise 
he  sought  to  counteract  by  arousing  a  passionate 
enthusiasm  for  nationality,  liberty,  humanity.  The 
fire  that  even  now,  more  than  forty  years  after  the 


234  HENRY   WARD  BEECHER 

delivery  of  the  sermon,  flashes  from  the  printed 
page,  it  is  as  impossible  to  reproduce,  in  an  analy- 
sis of  the  argument,  as  it  is  to  reproduce  in  the 
heaped  up  ashes  from  a  camp-fire  the  pile  of  logs 
aflame,  its  light  illumining  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  and  its  glow  warming  the  bystanders.  The 
spirit  of  his  message  was  conveyed  by  its  text, 
"  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel  that  they  go 
forward."  In  this  sermon  Mr.  Beecher  presented 
clearly  the  demand  of  the  Republican  party,  the 
demand  of  the  South,  and  the  impossibility  of  any 
compromise  between  the  demands.  "  We  ask  no 
advantages,  no  new  prerogatives,  no  privileges 
whatsoever ;  we  merely  say.  Let  there  be  no  mtes- 
tine  revolution  in  our  institutions,  but  let  them 
stand  as  they  were  made  and  for  the  purposes  for 
which  they  were  created."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Confederates  "  have  expunged  the  doctrine  of  uni- 
versal liberty  and  put  in  its  place  the  doctrine  of 
liberty  for  the  strong  and  servitude  for  the  weak." 
The  new  constitution  of  the  so-called  Confederate 
States  "  holds  that  there  is  appointed  of  God  a 
governing  class  and  a  class  to  be  governed,  — 
a  class  that  were  born  governors  because  they  are 
strong  and  smart  and  well-to-do,  and  a  class  that 
were  born  servants  because  they  are  poor  and  weak 
and  unable  to  take  care  of  themselves."  Men  in 
the  North  were  proposing  to  secure  peace  between 
liberty  and  slavery  by  ignoring  the  distinction  be- 
tween them.  These  Northerners  he  scourged  with 
unsparing  ridicule :  — 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  235 

You  can  have  your  American  eagle  as  you  want  it. 
If,  with  the  South,  you  will  strike  out  his  eyes,  then  you 
shall  stand  well  witli  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Stephens  of 
the  Confederate  States ;  if,  with  the  Christians  of  the 
South,  you  will  pluck  off  his  wings,  you  shall  stand 
well  with  the  Southern  churches  ;  and  if,  with  the  new 
peace-makers  that  have  risen  up  in  the  North,  you  will 
pull  out  his  tail-feathers,  you  shall  stand  well  with  the 
society  for  the  promotion  of  national  unity.  But  when 
you  have  stricken  out  his  eyes  so  that  he  can  no  longer 
see,  when  you  have  plucked  off  his  wings  so  that  he  can 
no  longer  fly,  and  when  you  have  pulled  out  his  guiding 
tail-feathers  so  that  he  can  no  longer  steer  himself,  but 
rolls  in  the  dirt  a  mere  buzzard,  then  will  he  be  worth 
preserving  ?  Such  an  eagle  it  is  that  they  mean  to  de- 
pict upon  the  banner  of  America  ! 

But  he  did  not  merely  ridicule  ;  he  did  not 
merely  denounce  —  he  argued :  On  what  conditions 
could  the  North  retreat  from  the  war?  on  what 
conditions  have  peace  ?  "  On  condition  that  two 
thirds  of  the  nation  shall  implicitly  yield  up  to  the 
dictation  of  one  third  ;  "  on  condition  that  "  we  \vill 
legalize  and  establish  the  right  of  any  discontented 
community  to  rebel  and  set  up  intestine  govern- 
ments within  the  government  of  the  United 
States  ;  "  on  condition  that  "  we  will  agree  funda- 
mentally to  change  our  Constitution,  and  instead 
of  maintaining  a  charter  of  universal  freedom,  to 
write  it  out  as  a  deliberate  charter  of  oppression ;  " 
on  condition  that  we  "  become  partners  in  slavery, 
and  consent,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  to  ratify  this 
gigantic  evil ; "  on  condition    that  ''  we  shall   no 


236  HENRY   WAED   BEECHER 

longer  have  any  right  of  discussion,  of  debate,  of 
criticism,  —  shall  no  longer  have  any  right  of  agi- 
tatioji^  as  it  is  called."  Against  these  demands 
of  the  South  he  placed  the  duties  which  the  hour 
devolved  upon  the  North.  "  While  the  air  of  the 
South  is  full  of  the  pestilent  doctrines  of  slavery, 
accursed  be  our  communities  if  we  will  not  be  as 
zealous  and  enthusiastic  for  liberty  as  they  are 
against  it."  Every  man  should  declare  himself. 
"  We  must  draw  the  lines.  A  great  many  men 
have  been  on  both  sides.  A  great  many  men  have 
been  thrown  backward  and  forward,  like  a  shuttle, 
from  one  side  to  the  other.  It  is  now  time  for 
every  man  to  choose  one  side  or  the  other."  Com- 
mercial interests  must  not  be  permitted  to  inter- 
fere. "  We  must  not  stop  to  measure  costs  —  espe- 
cially the  cost  of  going  forward  —  on  any  basis  so 
mean  and  narrow  as  that  of  pecuniary  prosperity." 
An  ultimate  and  enduring  settlement  must  be  kept 
ever  in  mind.  "  We  must  aim  at  a  peace  built  on 
foundations  so  solid  of  God's  immutable  truth,  that 
nothing  can  reach  to  unsettle  it.  Let  this  conflict 
between  liberty  and  slavery  never  come  up  again." 
And  the  controversy  must  be  entered  into  without 
wrath  or  bitterness.  "  Let  not  our  feeling  be 
savage  or  vengeful.  We  can  go  into  this  conflict 
with  a  spirit  just  as  truly  Christian  as  any  that  ever 
inspired  us  in  the  performance  of  a  Christian  duty. 
.  .  .  Let  the  spirit  of  fury  be  far  from  us ;  but 
the  spirit  of  earnestness,  of  willingness  to  do,  to 
suffer,  and  to  die,  if  need  be,  for  our  land  and  our 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  237 

principles,  —  that  may  be  a  religious  spirit.    We 
may  consecrate  it  with  prayer." 

In  this  sermon  occurred  an  incident  which  illus- 
trates both  the  quickness  of  the  orator  to  seize  the 
advantage  of  the  unexpected,  and  the  wisdom  of 
the  Christian  to  direct  the  sudden  excitement  of  an 
audience  to  a  noble  issue.  I  can  best  give  this 
incident  by  quoting  it  from  the  sermon  itself :  — 

Since  I  came  into  this  desk  I  have  received  a  dis- 
patch from  one  of  our  most  illustrious  citizens,  saying 
that  Sumter  is  reinforced,  and  Moultrie  is  the  fort  that 
has  been  destroyed.  \^Tremendous  and  prolonged  ap- 
plause, expressed  hy  enthusiastic  cheers,  clapping  of 
hands,  and  waving  of  handkerchiefs.']  But  what  if  the 
rising  of  the  sun  to-morrow  should  reverse  the  message  ? 
What  if  the  tidings  that  greet  you  in  the  morning  should 
be  but  the  echo  of  the  old  tidings  of  disaster?  You 
live  in  hours  in  which  you  are  to  suffer  suspense.  Now 
lifted  up,  you  will  be  prematurely  cheering,  and  now 
cast  down,  you  will  be  prematurely  desponding.  Look 
forward,  then,  past  the  individual  steps,  the  various  vicis- 
situdes of  experience,  to  the  glorious  end  that  is  coming  ! 
Look  beyond  the  present  to  that  assured  victory  which 
awaits  us  in  the  future. 

The  incident  is  characteristic  of  Mr.  Beecher. 
He  often  raised  his  audiences  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  excitement,  but  never  for  the  mere  pleasure  of 
exciting  them.  He  always  endeavored  to  utilize 
the  excitement  which  he  had  created  by  giving  to 
it  a  practical  turn,  and  making  it  minister  to  a 
higher  life  in  future  conduct. 


238  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

From  the  hour  in  which  war  began,  Plymouth 
Church  became  a  centre  in  the  war  excitement,  as 
it  had  been  an  educational  centre  in  the  anti-slavery 
campaign  which  had  preceded.  It  was  continuously 
used  as  a  means,  not  only  for  strengthenmg  cour- 
age and  stimulating  patriotic  enthusiasm,  but  also 
practically  for  raising  and  equipping  soldiers.  The 
American  flag  floated  from  the  roof  of  the  building. 
At  times  daily  meetings  were  held  for  the  purpose 
of  makmg  up  articles  necessary  for  volunteers.  A 
news  express  was  organized,  called  the  "  Plymouth 
Mail,"  to  forward  papers  to  the  enlisted  repre- 
sentatives in  Plymouth  Church.  At  one  service 
three  thousand  dollars  were  raised  to  aid  in  equip- 
ping one  of  the  regiments.  At  another  a  fine  out- 
fit of  Colt's  revolvers  were  presented  by  the  young 
men  of  Plymouth  Church  to  a  company.  Mr. 
Beecher  equipped  one  regiment  at  his  own  expense. 
One  of  his  sons  volunteered  with  the  father's  hearti- 
est approval.  Sermons  were  frequent  to  companies 
of  soldiers  coming  to  Plymouth  Church  for  the  pur- 
pose of  receiving  instruction  and  inspiration.  One 
of  these  sermons  entitled  "  The  National  Flag,"  de- 
livered to  the  Brooklyn  Fourteenth  in  May,  1861, 
was  little  more  than  an  eloquent  incitement  to  cour- 
age and  patriotism ;  another,  on  "  The  Camp,  Its 
Dangers  and  Duties,"  pointed  out  the  moral  dan- 
gers incident  to  camp  life,  and  contained  counsel  to 
soldiers  how  to  avoid  them,  and  to  friends  at  home 
how  to  strengthen  the  young  men  no  longer  safe- 
guarded by  the  influences  of  the  home. 


THE   CIVIL   WAR  239 

From  the  first  Mr.  Beecher  believed  that  the 
war  would  end  in  the  emancipation  of  the  slave. 
"  That  we  see,"  he  said,  "  the  beginning  of  na- 
tional emancipation  we  firmly  believe.  And  we 
would  have  you  firmly  believe  it,  lest,  fearing  the 
loss  of  such  an  opportunity,  you  should  over-eagerly 
grasp  at  accidental  advantages,  and  seek  to  press 
forward  the  consummation  by  methods  and  mea- 
sures which,  freeing  you  from  one  evil,  shall  open 
the  door  for  innumerable  others  and  fill  our  future 
with  conflicts  and  immedicable  trouble."  But  he 
was  not  in  haste  to  anticipate  the  course  of  events ; 
he  did  not  demand  an  emancipation  proclamation 
immediately.  "  How  far  our  government,  by  a  just 
use  of  its  legitimate  powers  under  the  Constitution, 
can  avail  itself  of  this  war  to  limit  or  even  to  bring 
slavery  to  an  end,  is  matter  for  the  wisest  deliber- 
ation of  the  wisest  men."  Even  emancipation  could 
not,  in  his  opinion,  justify  a  course  which  would  so 
centralize  the  national  government  as  to  destroy 
the  state  governments.  The  nation  must  still 
maintain  *'  unimpaired  in  all  its  beneficence  the 
American  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  local 
government,  except  in  those  elements  which  have 
been  clearly  and  undeniably  transferred  to  the 
federal  government."  But  when  the  President 
issued,  in  September,  1862,  the  preliminary  eman- 
cipation proclamation  Mr.  Beecher  heartily  in- 
dorsed it,  while  he  commended  the  President  for 
not  anticipating  in  his  action  the  public  sentiment 
of  the  North.    On  December  28,  four  days  before 


240  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

the  final  emancipation  proclamation,  he  took  the 
approaching  event  as  text  for  a  sermon  on  "  Lib- 
erty mider  Laws,"  which  he  defined  to  be  "the 
liberty  [of  every  man]  to  use  himseK,  in  all  his 
powers,  according  to  the  laws  which  God  has  im- 
posed on  those  powers ;  "  this  he  declared  was  the 
divine  prerogative  of  every  man  under  the  sun. 

During  all  this  time  Mr.  Beecher's  work  in  the 
pulpit  and  on  the  platform  was  supplemented,  as 
it  had  been  in  the  previous  years,  by  his  work  with 
the  pen.  In  December,  1861,  he  became  editor-in- 
chief  of  "  The  Independent,"  and  for  the  brief 
time  during  which  he  held  that  position,  its  edito- 
rials were  largely  devoted  to  the  one  issue  before 
the  nation ;  not  so  much  to  the  discussion  of  ques- 
tions —  for  the  time  for  discussion  had  passed  — 
as  to  the  inflaming  of  zeal,  the  stimulating  of  patri- 
otism, the  encouraging  of  devotion,  the  strengthen- 
ing of  resolution. 

When  James  M.  Mason  and  John  SlideU,  repre- 
sentatives from  the  Confederate  States  to  the  gov- 
ernments of  France  and  England,  were  taken  from 
an  English  mail  steamer  by  Captain  Wilkes,  of 
the  United  States  Navy,  and  the  whole  country  was 
in  a  blaze  of  excitement,  and  war  with  England  was 
imminent,  Mr.  Beecher  assumed  no  wisdom  on  the 
question  of  international  law  involved  and  urged  no 
special  policy  on  the  administration  ;  he  contented 
himself  with  declaring,  "  If  we  have,  to  the  width 
of  a  hair,  passed  beyond  the  line  of  our  own  proper 
duty  and  right,  we  shall,  upon  suitable  showing, 


THE   CIVIL   WAR  241 

need  no  menace  to  make  suitable  reparation.  .  .  . 
But  if  we  have  done  right,  aU  the  threatenings  in 
the  world  will  not  move  this  people  from  their 
steadfastness."  When  the  question  of  finance 
pressed  upon  the  government,  he  did  not  discuss 
the  proper  method  of  raising  revenue,  but  he  urged 
the  fearless  imposition  of  taxes  sufficient  for  the 
necessities  of  the  country :  "  Every  honest  man  in 
America  ought  to  send  to  Washington  one  message 
in  two  words,  Fight^  Tax''  When  slaves  began 
to  come  into  our  lines,  he  did  not  discuss  the  legal 
or  military  question  raised  as  to  their  status,  but 
he  insisted  that  they  were  to  be  treated  as  men,  not 
as  slaves :  "  Let  us  forget  that  these  blacks  were 
ever  Slaves^  and  remember  only  that  they  are  Men. 
With  this  as  our  first  principle  we  cannot  go  far 
wrong."  When  McClellan  was  halting  and  hesi- 
tating on  the  Potomac,  Mr.  Beecher  did  not,  like 
some  of  his  contemporaries,  propose  military  meth- 
ods or  suggest  a  form  of  military  campaign  ;  but 
he  demanded  of  the  army  "  courage  and  enterprise  " 
in  an  editorial  bearing  those  two  words  as  its  title. 
"  Since  war  is  upon  us,  let  us  have  courage  to  make 
war."  Two  months  before  President  Lincoln's 
first  emancipation  proclamation  he  began  to  urge 
upon  the  nation  emancipation  as  a  necessity.  Mr. 
Beecher  was  a  great  friend  of  Edwin  M.  Stanton. 
Li  these  editorials  of  the  summer  of  1862  some- 
thing of  Mr.  Stanton's  impatience  with  McCleUan's 
military  policy  appears  in  criticism  of  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's administration.    We  now  know  better  than 


242  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

Mr.  Beeclier  then  could  know  the  difficulties  which 
surrounded  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  necessities  which 
made  him  cautious  not  to  move  more  rapidly  than 
he  could  move  with  the  united  force  of  the  loyal 
North  supporting  him.  But  the  intensity  of  these 
editorials  helped  to  arouse  the  very  public  senti- 
ment for  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  waiting,  and 
which  made  Mr.  Lincohi's  action,  when  it  came, 
practical  and  efficient. 

We  should  misinterpret  Mr.  Beecher  if  we  should 
leave  our  readers  with  the  impression  that  during 
these  exciting  months  he  was  simply  or  even  chiefly 
a  reformer.  His  sermons  on  the  one  political  sub- 
ject which  agitated  the  nation  were  frequent,  but 
they  were  the  exception.  As  during  the  previous 
,  anti-slavery  campaign,  his  chief  message  was  a  per- 
sonal gospel.  On  May  30,  1863,  he  sailed  for 
Europe  for  what  was  intended  to  be  a  well-earned 
vacation  —  but  came  to  be  the  occasion  of  the  most 
important  single  service  he  ever  rendered  to  his 
country.  The  Sunday  evening  before  his  depar- 
ture he  took  for  reaffirmation  of  the  fundamental 
purpose  of  his  ministry.  I  think  that  all  those  who 
were  familiar  with  that  ministry  during  the  sixteen 
critical  years  which  he  had  spent  in  Brooklyn  would 
bear  testimony  that  in  this  familiar  discourse  he 
not  inaptly  described  it. 

/  Among  the  earliest,  the  deepest,  and  the  strongest 
purposes  of  my  ministry  was  the  determination  that  it 
should  be  a  ministry  of  Christ.  Nothing  could  be  further 
from  my  heart  than  to  make  this  pulpit  the  clustering 


THE   CIVIL   WAR  243 

point  of  a  number  of  reforms.  I  never  would  have  con- 
sented to  serve  in  a  church  that  was  merely  what  is 
called  a  reformatory  church.  I  felt  in  my  soul  that  all 
power  in  moral  reforms  must  spring  from  a  yet  deeper 
power  ;  and  for  that  I  struck.  And  I  remember  how, 
in  the  very  beginning,  night  and  day  without  varying, 
through  all  the  early  months  of  my  ministry  here,  I  had 
but  one  feeling  —  to  preach  Christ  for  the  awakening  of 
men,  for  their  conversion.  My  desire  was  that  this 
should  be  a  revival  church  —  a  church  in  which  the 
Gospel  should  be  preached  primarily  and  mainly  for  the 
re-creation  of  man's  moral  nature,  for  the  bringing  of 
Christ  as  a  living  power  upon  the  living  souls  of  men. 
My  profound  conviction  of  the  fruitlessness  of  man 
without  God  was  such  that  it  seemed  to  me  gardening 
in  the  great  Sahara  to  attempt  to  make  moral  reforma- 
tion in  a  church  which  was  not  profoundly  impressed 
with  the  great  spiritual  truths  of  Christ  Jesus.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  there  are  many  in  this  land  who  would 
think  it  an  extravagant  thing  to  hear  it  said  that  the 
keynote  of  my  ministry  among  you  had  been  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  soul,  or  the  awakening  of  men  from 
their  sinfulness  and  their  conversion  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  It  has  been  ;  and  if  you  had  taken  that  out  of 
my  thought  and  feelings  you  would  have  taken  away 
the  very  central  principle  of  my  ministry.  By  far  the 
largest  number  of  my  sermons  and  the  most  of  my 
preaching  has  been  aimed  at  the  conviction  and  the 
conversion  of  men.  ^ 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    CAMPAIGN    IN   ENGLAND 

When  the  secession  movement  first  assumed  seri- 
ous proportions  the  sympathy  of  England  was 
with  the  secessionists.  There  were  many  reasons 
for  this.  The  political  control  of  England  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  English  aristocracy.  Feudal  Eng- 
land had  always  looked  with  both  suspicion  and 
aversion  on  her  democratic  daughter.  The  strong- 
est argument  against  feudalism  was  the  unparal- 
leled growth  of  democratic  America.  Commercial 
England  saw  in  the  republic  across  the  sea  a  rival 
who  would  soon  contest  with  the  mother  country 
her  claim  to  commercial  supremacy,  and  she  was 
not  unwilling  to  see  that  rival  dismembered,  and 
her  own  commercial  supremacy  thus  secured  to  her. 
For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  England  had 
seen  the  South  aggressive  and  successful,  the  North 
timid  and  retreating.  It  was  not  strange  that  she 
believed  the  South  brave,  the  North  timid  ;  and 
England  admires  pluck  and  despises  cowardice. 
During  the  four  months  between  the  election  and 
the  inauguration  of  President  Lincoln  she  had  seen 
the  secessionists  united,  purposeful,  aggressive  ;  she 
had  seen  the  North  divided,  vacillating,  frightened. 
Even  Charles  Sumner  and  Salmon  P.  Chase  had 


THE   CAMPAIGN   IN   ENGLAND  245 

intimated  willingness  to  allow  the  Southern  States 
to  go  out  with  slavery  if  they  so  desired  it ;  even 
Mr.  Seward,  the  Secretary  of  State  in  the  new 
administration,  had  repudiated  both  the  right  and 
the  desire  to  use  armed  force  in  subjugating  the 
Southern  States  against  the  will  of  a  majority  of 
the  people.  No  wonder  that  under  these  circum- 
stances the  English  people,  in  increasing  numbers, 
shared  in  the  conviction  a  little  later  expressed  by 
Mr.  Gladstone  :  "  We  may  anticipate  with  certainty 
the  success  of  the  Southern  States  so  far  as  regards 
their  separation  from  the  North.  I  cannot  but  be- 
lieve that  that  event  is  as  certain  as  any  event  yet 
future  and  contingent  can  be."  In  politics  pre- 
eminently is  it  true  that  "  Nothing  succeeds  like 
success  ; "  and  the  anticipated  success  of  the  Con- 
federacy won  for  it  many  sympathizers  in  Great 
Britain  who  might .  otherwise  have  hesitated.  In 
poKtical  circles  in  Great  Britain  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
unknown,  and  Mr.  Seward,  his  Secretary  of  State, 
who  was  known,  and  who  was  erroneously  supposed 
to  be  the  controlling  spirit  in  the  new  administra- 
tion, was  viewed  with  great  distrust.  We  now 
know  that  this  distrust  was  well  grounded,  and  that 
if  Mr.  Seward  had  been  the  controlling  spirit  in 
the  new  administration  he  would  have  provoked  a 
war  with  Great  Britain  for  the  purpose  of  arousing 
the  national  sentiment  in  South  and  North  and 
uniting  both  sections  against  a  common  foe.  The 
Southern  States  were  the  great  cotton  producing 
states  of  the  world ;  England  was  the  great  cotton 


246       HENRY  WARD  BEECH  ER 

manufacturing  community  of  the  world :  the  pro- 
sperity of  England,  almost  the  life  of  many  of  her 
people,  was  dependent  upon  the  cotton  supply  fur- 
nished by  the  Southern  States,  and  therefore  depend- 
ent upon  breaking  the  blockade  and  opening  the 
Southern  ports  to  commerce.  As  the  result  of  the 
Civil  War  the  cotton  supply  had  shrunk  by  May  1, 
1862,  from  1,500,000  bales  to  500,000  bales,  of 
which  less  than  12,000  bales  had  been  received 
from  America ;  over  one  half  of  the  spindles  of 
Lancashire  were  idle,  and  in  two  towns,  Blackburn 
and  Preston,  alone,  over  20,000  persons  were  de- 
pendent on  parochial  aid.  On  the  pressure  pro- 
duced by  this  cotton  famine,  and  anticipated  by 
the  Confederate  leaders,  they  had  relied  to  compel 
England's  intervention  in  their  behalf.  Agents  of 
the  Confederate  States,  official  and  unofficial,  were 
busy  in  England,  quietly  working  through  press 
and  public  men  to  create  public  opinion  favorable 
to  their  cause.  America  has  never  fully  realized 
the  debt  it  owes  to  the  one  brave,  loyal,  and  lonely 
American,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  our  American 
Minister  to  England  during  the  period  of  the  Civil 
War,  whose  courage  was  equaled  by  his  sagacity, 
and  to  whose  diplomacy  we  primarily  owe  the  fact 
that  English  intervention  in  behalf  of  the  Confed- 
erate States  was  prevented. 

If  the  question  between  North  and  South  had 
been,  in  the  early  years  of  the  war,  clearly  seen  to 
be  the  question  whether  slavery  should  dominate 
the  continent  or  be  destroyed,  the  anti-slavery  con- 


THE   CAMPAIGN   IN   ENGLAND  247 

science  of  Great  Britain  might  have  been  relied 
upon  to  coiuiteraet,  to  a  consiclerahle  extent,  the 
forces  in  England  working  on  behaK  of  the  Con- 
federate cause ;  but  even  to  Americans  the  issue 
between  the  two  sections  was  obscured,  and  it  is 
not  strange  that  EngHslunen  did  not  correctly  ap- 
prehend it.  Isolated  men  of  prophetic  nature,  like 
James  Martineau,  saw  that  if  slavery  was  confined 
within  a  limited  territory  it  must  perish  thi'ough  the 
action  of  economic  causes,  but  the  gi'eat  English  pub- 
lic saw  nothing  but  the  issue  as  it  was  defined  by 
public  speech ;  and  repeated,  and  even  official  decla- 
rations in  America,  in  the  early  history  of  the  war, 
distinctly  denied  that  slavery  was  other  than  inci- 
dentally involved.  Even  as  late  as  the  summer  of 
1862,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  written  to  Mr.  Greeley  that 
ever  memorable  letter  in  which  he  declared  that 
his  paramount  object  in  this  struggle  "  is  to  save 
the  Union,  and  is  not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy 
slavery.  If  I  coidd  save  the  Union  without  freeing 
any  slaves,  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  coidd  save  it  by 
freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could 
do  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I 
would  also  do  that."  It  is  not  strange  that  the  Eng- 
lish public  generally  did  not  discriminate  between 
the  object  of  public  action  and  the  efect  of  public 
action  ;  did  not  see  that,  w^hile  the  object  of  the 
government  must  be  sunply  the  reestablishment 
of  the  federal  authority  tlu'oughout  the  nation,  the 
effect  of  that  reestablislnnent  must  inevitably  be 
the  eventual  overthrow  of  slavery.   When  at  last,  in 


248  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

January,  1863,  the  President's  proclamation  of 
emancipation  was  issued,  it  did  something,  but  not 
much,  to  clear  the  atmosphere.  It  was  regarded  by 
the  English  journals  generally,  not  as  history  has 
regarded  it,  the  greatest  blow  ever  struck  for  human 
freedom  by  a  single  hand,  but,  to  quote  one  Eng- 
lish critic,  "  the  most  unparalleled  last  card  ever 
played  by  a  reckless  gambler."  The  English  people 
were  invited  to  recognize  it  as  either  a  futile  bid 
for  negro  support,  or,  if  effective,  as  a  simunons  to 
an  insurrection  which  would  be  accompanied  by 
"  a  carnage  so  bloody  that  even  the  horrors  of  the 
Jacquerie  and  the  massacres  of  Cawnpore  would 
wax  pale  in  comparison." 

America  was  not  without  friends  in  England, 
chiefly  to  be  found  among  the  laboring-class,  who 
were  without  a  vote,  and  for  the  most  part  without 
a  voice,  yet  curiously  not  wholly  without  political 
influence.  As  in  many  another  crisis  in  history, 
their  instincts  were  wiser  than  the  sagacity  of  the 
statesmen  and  the  leader-writers;  they  felt  what 
they  could  not  have  defined  —  that  the  cause  of  free 
labor  the  world  over  was  being  fought  out  on  Ameri- 
can soil.  They  coidd  not  answer  the  argmnents 
adduced  on  platform  and  in  press  on  behalf  of  the 
Confederate  States,  but  their  sympathies  were  with 
the  preservation  of  the  republic,  their  hopes  were 
for  the  overthrow  of  slavery.  The  emancipation 
proclamation  gave  a  reasonable  and  historic  basis 
for  those  hopes.  And  in  January,  1863,  a  public 
meeting  was  held  in  Exeter  Hall  against  interven- 


THE   CAMPAIGN   IN   ENGLAND  249 

tion  in  behalf  of  the  Confederate  States,  the  first 
considerable  expression  of  the  before  silent  con- 
science of  the  common  people  of  the  land. 

Such,  briefly  described,  was  the  public  sentunent 
in  England,  when,  after  "  two  or  three  months  "  of 
rest  upon  the  Continent,  Mr.  Beecher  reached  Lon- 
don in  the  early  fall  of  1863. 

Dr.  John  Raymond,  Mr.  Beecher' s  friend  and 
companion  in  his  European  travels,  had  returned  to 
America  when  Mr.  Beecher  left  the  Continent  of 
Europe,  and  Mr.  Beecher  remained  alone  in  Eng- 
land.i  At  first  he  refused  the  requests  urged  upon 
him  to  speak.  There  were  special  reasons  why  he 
should  refuse.  He  was  there  simply  as  a  private 
citizen,  without  any  connection  with  the  govern- 
ment or  any  authority  to  speak  in  its  behalf. 
The  rumor,  afterward  circulated,  that  he  had  been 
informally  and  unofficially  deputed  by  the  adminis- 
tration to  go  to  England,  and  endeavor  to  create 
a  sentiment  favorable  to  the  North,  he  explicitly 
denied.  He  went  wholly  on  his  own  responsibility, 
with  no  supporter  except  his  own  church.    Roving 

^  The  best  history  of  this  English  episode  in  Mr.  Beecher's 
life,  including  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes's  description  of  it  in  The 
Atlantic  Monthly,  Mr.  Beecher's  autobiographical  account,  and 
stenographic  reports  of  the  principal  addresses,  will  be  found  in 
Patriotic  Addresses,  edited  by  John  R.  Howard.  The  account  of 
his  experiences  as  here  given  is  largely  based  on  Mr.  Beecher's 
own  account,  given  to  a  group  of  about  twenty  friends  in  his  par- 
lors, sometime  in  the  seventies.  This  account  was  taken  down  in 
shorthand,  and  with  some  slight  revision  is  printed  in  full  in 
Henry  Ward  Beecher :  A  Sketch  of  his  Career,  by  Lyman  Abbott 
and  S.  B.  Halliday. 


250  HENRY   WARD  BEECHER 

diplomats,  sent  to  England  from  time  to  time  by 
Mr.  Seward,  acted  independently  of  Mr.  Charles 
Francis  Adams,  the  American  Minister,  and  thus 
discredited  Mr.  Adams,  and  enhanced  the  difficid- 
ties  of  a  delicate  position.  Unappointed  volmiteers 
were  also  complicating  affairs  by  private  intermed- 
dling, and  by  their  letter-writing  to  the  London 
"Times,"  were  not  conducing  to  the  friendly 
relations  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States.  Mr.  Beecher  did  not  wish  to  be  identified 
in  the  public  mind  with  either  of  these  classes  of 
mischief-makers.  Bitter  feeling  against  America 
was  sedidously  cultivated  by  some  eminent  jour- 
nals and  by  not  a  few  reputable  men.  To  speak  for 
America  was  sure  to  in^dte  every  species  of  msult 
and  indignity  from  Confederate  sympathizers,  and 
was  not  sure  to  receive  encouragement  or  support 
from  the  few  sympathizers  with  the  North.  It  was 
not  even  certain  that  the  speaker's  efforts  would  not 
be  condemned  by  the  administration  as  possibly  well- 
meaning  but  practically  injurious  efforts.  Mr. 
Beecher  was  unfamiliar  with  the  conditions  of  the 
pubhc  mind,  and  by  no  means  confident  of  his  abil- 
ity to  meet  them.  He  was  conscious  that,  added  to 
the  prejudice  against  him  as  a  representative  Amer- 
ican, there  was  personal  prejudice,  theological  and 
other,  which  had  been  diligently  excited  against 
him  as  an  individual.  The  strength  of  these  com- 
bined prejudices  is  illustrated  by  the  defensatory 
and  almost  apologetic  character  of  the  introduc- 
tions with  which,  when  he  came  to  speak,  he  was 


THE   CAMPAIGN   IN  ENGLAND  251 

on  more  than  one  occasion  presented  to  his  audi- 
ences. 

But  Mr.  Beecher's  friends  urged  him  to  recon- 
sider his  declination.  They  presented  two  grounds, 
one  private,  one  public,  why  he  should  accede  to 
their  request.  They  pleaded  with  him  that  they  had 
defended  the  North,  and  suffered  on  its  behalf,  and 
they  affirmed  that  if  he  went  home  refusing  his 
help,  his  enemies  and  theirs  would  declare  that  the 
North  itself  despised  them.  They  assured  him  that 
the  conunercial  and  aristocratic  circles  of  Great 
Britam  were  eager  to  have  Great  Britain  intervene  ; 
that  it  was  of  the  utmost  miportance,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  danger  of  mtervention,  to  arouse  and 
instruct  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  England  upon 
the  issues  of  the  war ;  that  a  movement  was  on 
foot  to  win  to  the  Confederate  cause  the  sympatliies 
of  the  non-voting  English  laborers  by  a  series  of 
public  meetings ;  and  that  in  their  judgment  Mr. 
Beecher  could  do  more  than  any  other  man  to  fore- 
stall and  counteract  this  movement.  The  recent 
victories  at  Vicksburg  and  at  Gettysburg  had  done 
something  to  stem  the  current  of  popidar  feeling 
in  favor  of  the  Confederate  cause,  and  so  to  make 
tliis  time  opportune  for  securing  a  hearing  for  a 
representative  of  the  North.  The  argument  pre- 
vailed ;  Mr.  Beecher's  refusal  was  changed  to  con- 
sent, and  arrangements  were  made  for  success- 
ive speeches  at  Manchester,  Glasgow,  Edinburgh, 
Liverpool,  and  London.^ 

1  The  success  which  attended  these  meetings  led  subsequently 


252  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

There  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  unacknowledged 
public  sentunent  in  England,  wliicb  an  American 
finds  it  difficLdt  to  comprehend,  that  it  is  perfectly 
fair  play  to  prevent  a  speaker  from  being  heard  if 
his  opponents  can  do  so  by  vociferous  interruption, 
or  to  capture  a  meeting  organized  for  one  purpose 
and  turn  it  to  a  diametrically  opposite  purpose  if 
there  is  force  enough  in  the  opposition  to  accom- 
plish the  result.  So  long  as  physical  violence  is 
not  resorted  to,  this  sort  of  tactics  seems  to  be 
treated  in  England  as  a  legitimate  part  of  the 
game.  It  was  quite  in  accordance  with  English 
traditions,  therefore,  that  no  sooner  were  the  ar- 
rangements for  giving  Mr.  Beecher  a  hearing 
made  and  announced  than  counter  arrangements 
were  made  to  prevent  Mr.  Beecher  from  being 
heard.  Blood-red  placards  were  posted  in  the 
streets  of  the  cities  where  he  was  to  speak.  They 
smnmoned  the  mob  to  prevent  his  speaking.  The 
audacity  of  the  lies  contained  in  these  placards 
almost  surpasses  belief.  They  cliarged  him  with 
demanding  that  "  the  best  blood  of  England  must 
flow  for  the  outrage  England  had  perpetrated  in 
America ; "  with  reconnnending  that  London  be 
sacked ;  with  calling  for  the  extermination  of  the 
people  of  the  South  and  repeopling  it  from  the 
North ;  and  they  caUed  on  Engiislmien  to  see  that 
he  gets  "the  welcome  he  deserves."  The  only 
effect  of  these  posters  was  to  arouse  in  him  the 

to  three  farewell  breakfasts  at,  respectively,  London,  Manches' 
ter,  and  Liverpool. 


[I3t  poster,  io  red  aDd  black:  elzc,  32x34  inches.] 

Specimens  of  Posters  displayed  in  Cities  in  Englantl 
where  Mr,  Beecher  spoke  in  1803. 

REV.    H.    W.    REECHER'S 

MISSION    TO    LIVERPOOL. 

THE  TRENT  AFFAIR. 

[Rev.  H.  W.  Beecher  in  the  New  York  Independent.] 

"  Should  the  President  quietly  yield  to  the  present  necessity  (viz. :  the  de- 
livering up  of  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell)  as  the  lesser  of  two  evils  and  bide 
our  time  with  England,  there  will  be  a 

SENSE  of  WRONG,  of  NATIONAL  HUMILIATION 

so   PROFOUND,    AND   A 

HORROR  OF  THE  UNFEELING  SELFISHNESS 
OF  THE  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT 

in  the  great  emergency  of  our  affairs,  such  as  will  inevitably  break  out  by  and 
by  in  flames,  and  which  will  only  be  extinguished  by  a  deluge  of  blood !  We 
are  not  living  the  whole  of  our  life  to-day.  There  is  a  future  to  the  United 
States  in  which  the  nation  will  right  any  injustice  of  the  present  hour." 

The  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  at  a  meeting  held  in  New  York,  at  the  time 
\rhen  the  Confederate  Envoys,  Messrs.  Slidell  and  Mason,  had  been  surrendered 
by  President  Lincoln  to  the  British  Government,  from  whose  vessel  (the  Royal 
Mail  Steamer  Trent)  they  were  taken,  said 

"  That  the  Best  Blood  of  England  must  flow 
for  the  outrage  England  had  per- 
petrated on  America." 

This  opinion  of  a  Christian  (?)  minister,  wishing  to  obtain  a  welcome  in 
Liverpool,  whose  operatives  are  suffering  almost  unprecedented  hardships, 
caused  by  the  suicidal  war  raging  in  the  States  of  North  America,  and  urged 
on  by  the  fanatical  Statesmen  and  Preachers  of  the  North,  is  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. 

REV.   H.  W.   BEECH ER'S 

IDEA  OF  SLAVERY. 

In  Plymouth  Church,  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  January  25,  1860,  the  Rev.  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  announced  his  creed  on  Slavery  in  six  Points : 

1.  That  a  man  may  hold  a  slave  and  do  no  wrong. 

2.  That  immediate"  Emancipation  is  impossible. 

3.  That  a  Slave-holder  mav  be  a  good  Chribtian. 

4.  That  the  influence  of  Slavery  is  not  always  evil. 

5.  Timt  some  actual  Slave-holders  are  doing  more  for  the  cause  of  Freedom  than 
some  violent  Keforiners. 

6  That  Auti-elavery  Bigotry  la  worse  than  the  Papacy. 


[2d  poster  ;  iize,  20x29  inches.] 

THE 


WAE    CHRISTIANS! 

THEIR   DOCTRINES. 


At  a  Jubilee  Demonstration  in  New  York,  in  January  last, 
REV.  JOHN  J.  RAYMOND, 

The  appointed  Chaplain  of  the  meeting,  in  his  opening  prayer,  said:  **We 
thank  thee,  0  God,  that  thou  hast  seen  fit  to  raise  up  one,  ABRAHAM,  sur- 
named  Lincoln.  .  .  .  He  is  a  man  whom  GOD  SHOULD  bless,  and  the 
people  delight  to  honor." 

UNITED    STATES   SENATOR   LANE, 
In  his  Address  to  the  Great  Union  Meeting  at  Washington,  said  :  "  1  would  like 
to  live  long  enough  to  see  every  white  man  now  in  South  Carolina  in  Hell." 

REV.  H.  WARD   BEECHER, 
In  his  Address  in  Glasgow,  last  Monday,  said  :  "  They  (alluding  to  the  NORTH 
rose  like  ONE  MA.N,  and  with  a  voice  that  reverberated  throughout  the  whole 
world,  cried — LET  IT  (alluding  to  the  South),  with  all  its  attendant  horrors, 
GO  TO  HELL." 

From  the  Manchester  Guardian's  Correspondence  : 
Is  this  the  same  Reverend  Mr.  Beecher  who,  at  a  meeting  in  America, 
during  the  discussion  of  the  "  T^-ent  Affair,"  said  :  "  That  the  best  blood  of  Eng- 
land must  flow  as  atonement  for  the  outrage  England  committed  on  America"? 

[3d  poster  ;  size,  25x38  inches.] 

HY.  WARD   BEECHER? 

He  is  the  man  who  said  the  best  blood  of  England  must  be  shed  to  atone 
for  the  Trent  affair. 

He  is  the  man  who  advocates  a  War  of  Extermination  with  the  South, — 
says  it  is  incapable  of  "  re  generation,"  but  proposes  to  re-people  it  from  the 
North  by  "  generation." — See  "  Times." 

He  is  the  friend  of  that  inhuman  monster.  General  BUTLER,  He  is  the 
friend  of  that  so-called  Gospei  Preacher,  CHEEVER,  who  said  in  one  of  his 
sermons— "  Fight  against  the  South  till  Hell  Freezes,  and  then  continue  the 
battle  on  the  ice." 

He  is  the  friend  and  supporter  of  a  most  debased  Female,  who  uttered  at  a 
public  meeting  in  America  the  most  indecent  and  cruel  language  that  ever 
polluted  female  lips.— See  "  Times." 

MEN  OP  MANCHESTER,  ENGLISHMEN! 

What  reception  can  yon  give  this  wretch,  save  unmitigated  disgust  and  con- 
tempt ?  His  impudence  in  coming  here  is  only  equalled  by  his  cruelty  and  im- 
piety. Should  he.  however,  venture  to  appear,  it  behooves  all  right-minded  men 
to  render  as  futile  as  the  first  this  second  attempt  to  get  up  a  public  demonstra- 
tion in  favor  of  the  North,  which  is  now  waging  War  against  the  South  with  a 
vindictive  and  revengeful  cruelty  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any  Christian  land. 

Cave  &  Seno  Prlntere  by  Bteam  Power,  1  alailne  BuildiDg,  MaDchester. 


THE   CAMPAIGN  IN   ENGLAND  253 

resolve,  "  I  won't  leave  England  until  I  have  been 
heard."  But  as  the  time  came  near  for  his  first 
address,  he  began  to  doubt  whether  his  first  resolve 
had  not  been  wise.  That  strange  foreboding  which 
sometimes  comes  upon  an  orator,  that  sense  of  in- 
tellectual helplessness,  that  premonition  of  utter 
failure,  which  is  often  really  the  precursor  of  great 
success,  settled  upon  him.  Mr.  Hamilton  W.  Mabie, 
to  whom  he  at  one  time  narrated  his  experiences, 
has  kindly  written  out  his  recollection  of  the  nar- 
rative for  me  as  follows  :  — 

I  remember  very  distinctly  my  talk  with  Mr.  Beecher, 
although  some  things  may  have  become  a  Httle  blurred 
in  the  flight  of  time.  He  told  me  that  nothing  could  de- 
scribe the  weight  of  antagonistic  English  opinion  which 
rested  on  his  spirit  the  moment  he  arrived  in  England; 
he  felt  as  if  he  were  surrounded  by  an  almost  impene- 
trable wall  of  prejudice  and  antagonism  ;  he  seemed  to 
have  the  animosity  of  the  entire  country  on  his  should- 
ers. On  the  day  on  which  he  was  to  make  his  first 
speech,  he  was  in  an  agony  of  depression  all  the  morn- 
ing, feeling  quite  unable  to  bear  up  under  the  awful 
burden  of  the  concentrated  animosity  of  a  nation :  he 
felt  something  as  he  imagined  Christ  might  have  felt  on 
the  road  to  Calvary ;  he  had  never  been  so  depressed 
before,  and  was  never  again  under  such  a  burden.  He 
spent  most  of  the  morning  on  his  knees,  without  any 
help ;  but  finally  arrived  at  a  point  where  his  prayer 
took  the  form  of  an  offer  to  surrender  everything  and 
even  to  fail  if  that  was  God's  will.  Gradually,  the 
depression  wore  off,  and  was  succeeded  by  a  great  sense 
of  repose.  When  he  finally  drove  to  the  hall  his  peace 
was  Hke  that  of  a  mountain  lake,  which  nothing  could 


264  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

have  disturbed.  When  he  entered  the  hall  he  found  it 
packed  with  an  audience  collected  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  silencing  him.  Every  time  he  opened  his  mouth 
his  voice  was  drowned  by  the  clamor  of  the  hostile 
crowd.  This  went  on  so  long  that  he  began  to  fear  that 
he  should  not  get  a  chance  to  say  anything.  In  the 
mean  time  he  had  studied  his  audience  carefully,  and  it 
had  photographed  itself  on  his  mind.  The  green  baize 
doors  reaching  from  the  circle  of  chairs  on  the  side, 
which  ran  around  the  outside  of  what  we  should  call 
the  orchestra,  were  fastened  together.  Seats  had  been 
brought  in  and  placed  around  the  side  walls,  and  in 
some  cases  against  these  doors.  In  one  of  these  seats  a 
large,  burly,  red-haired,  red-whiskered  man  was  sitting, 
who  was  particularly  vociferous,  shouting,  clapping  his 
hands,  pounding  his  feet,  and  throwing  himself  back  in 
his  chair.  After  about  twenty  minutes  of  attempted 
talk,  in  one  of  these  paroxysms  of  racket,  Mr.  Beecher 
happened  to  be  looking  at  this  man,  when  he  threw  him- 
self back  with  great  violence,  broke  the  fastenings  of 
the  door,  and  went  head  over  heels  in  his  chair  down 
the  stairs  on  the  outside.  The  whole  thing  was  so  in- 
stantaneous and  so  funny  that  Mr.  Beecher  burst  into  a 
roar  of  laughter.  The  audience  were  astonished  ;  turned 
around,  following  his  glance,  took  in  what  had  hap- 
pened, and  began  to  laugh  themselves.  That  moment  of 
relaxation  he  caught,  made  a  witty  remark  which  made 
them  laugh  still  more,  then  told  them  a  story  which 
caught  their  attention,  and  from  that  moment  held  them 
without  a  break,  as  long  as  he  chose  to  speak. 

This  last  sentence  must  be  taken  relatively.  It 
is  evident  from  the  published  reports  that  to  the 
end  Mr.  Beecher  had  to  contend  against  constant 
interruption.    His  own  account,  as  I  heard  it,  con- 


THE   CAMPAIGN  IN  ENGLAND  255 

firms  the  accuracy  of    these  reports.    In  that  ac- 
count he  said :  — 

As  soon  as  I  began  to  speak  the  great  audience  began 
to  show  its  teeth,  and  I  had  not  gone  on  fifteen  minutes 
before  an  unparalleled  scene  of  confusion  and  interrup- 
tion occurred.  No  American  that  has  not  seen  an  Eng- 
lish mob  can  form  any  conception  of  one.  I  have  seen 
all  sorts  of  camp-meetings  and  experienced  all  kinds  of 
public  speaking  on  the  stump ;  I  have  seen  the  most 
disturbed  meetings  in  New  York  City,  and  they  were 
all  of  them  as  twilight  to  midnight  compared  with  an 
English  hostile  audience.  For  in  England  the  meeting 
does  not  belong  to  the  parties  that  call  it,  but  to  whoever 
chooses  to  go,  and  if  they  can  take  it  out  of  your  hands 
it  is  considered  fair  play.  This  meeting  had  a  very 
large  multitude  of  men  in  it  who  came  there  for  the 
purpose  of  destroying  the  meeting  and  carrying  it  the 
other  way  when  it  came  to  the  vote.  I  took  the  mea- 
sure of  the  audience,  and  said  to  myself,  "About  one 
fourth  of  this  audience  are  opposed  to  me,  and  about  one 
fourth  will  be  rather  in  sympathy,  and  my  business  now 
is  not  to  appeal  to  that  portion  that  is  opposed  to  me, 
nor  to  those  that  are  already  on  my  side,  but  to  bring 
over  the  middle  section."  How  to  do  this  was  a  problem. 
The  question  was,  who  could  hold  out  longest.  There 
were  five  or  six  storm  centres,  boiling  and  whirling  at 
the  same  time ;  here  some  one  pounding  on  a  group 
with  his  umbrella  and  shouting,  "  Sit  down  there  ;  "  over 
yonder  a  row  between  two  or  three  combatants  ;  some- 
where else  a  group  all  yelling  together  at  the  top  of 
their  voices.  It  was  like  talking  to  a  storm  at  sea.  But 
there  were  the  newspaper  reporters  just  in  front,  and  I 
said  to  them,  "  Now,  gentlemen,  be  kind  enough  to  take 
down  what  I  say.  It  will  be  in  sections,  but  I  will  have 
it  connected  by-and-by."    I  threw  my  notes  away,  and 


256  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

entered  on  a  discussion  of  the  value  of  freedom  as  op- 
posed to  slavery  in  the  manufacturing  interest,  arguing 
that  freedom  everywhere  increases  a  man's  necessities, 
and  what  he  needs  he  buys,  and  that  it  was,  therefore, 
to  the  interest  of  the  manufacturing  community  to  stand 
by  the  side  of  labor  through  the  country.  I  never  was 
more  self-possessed  and  never  in  more  perfect  good  tem- 
per ;  and  I  never  was  more  determined  that  my  hearers 
should  feel  the  curb  before  I  got  through  with  them. 

Ill  Liverpool  the  conditions  were  even  worse 
than  in  Manchester.  "  Liverpool,"  says  Mr. 
Beecher,  "  was  worse  than  all  the  rest  put  to- 
gether. My  life  was  threatened,  and  I  had  com- 
munications to  the  effect  that  I  had  better  not 
venture  there.  The  streets  were  placarded  with 
the  most  scurrilous  and  abusive  cards."  Here 
there  was  threatening  of  actual  violence  ;  but  some 
of  Mr.  Beecher' s  friends  got  warning  of  the  dan- 
ger, went  armed  to  the  meeting,  and  prevented 
violence  by  being  prepared  for  it.  For  an  hour 
and  a  half  Mr.  Beecher  fought  the  mob  before  he 
got  control  and  then  spoke  an  hour  and  a  half 
afterwards;  even  then  amid  continual  interrup- 
tion. "  I  sometimes  felt,"  he  says,  "  like  a  ship- 
master attempting  to  preach  on  board  of  a  ship 
through  a  speaking-trumpet,  with  a  tornado  on  the 
sea  and  a  mutiny  among  the  men." 

As  one  turns  to  these  speeches,  and  endeavors  in 
imagination  to  reproduce  the  stormy  scenes  which 
accompanied  them,  he  is  impressed  with  the  quick- 
ness of  the  speaker  in  turning  every  adverse  inci- 
dent to  his  own  advantage,  the  emotional  eloquence 


THE  CAMPAIGN  IN  ENGLAND  257 

of  certain  evidently  extemporaneous  passages,  the 
knowledge  of  history  and  of  constitutional  princi- 
ples which  underlies  them,  the  philosophical  unity 
which  makes  of  them  all,  to  quote  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  "  a  single  speech  .  .  .  delivered  piece- 
meal in  different  places,"  and  the  peculiar  adapta- 
tion of  each  address  to  the  special  audience  to 
which  it  was  delivered. 

One  or  two  examples  may  serve  to  illustrate  the 
first  characteristic  :  — 

Great  Britain  has  thrown  her  arms  of  love  around 
the  Southerners,  and  turns  from  the  Northerners. 
("No.")  She  don't?  I  have  only  to  say  that  she 
has  been  caught  in  very  suspicious  circumstances. 
(Laughter.) 

If  the  South  should  be  rendered  independent  —  (At 
this  juncture  mingled  cheering  and  hissing  became  im- 
mense ;  half  the  audience  rose  to  their  feet,  waving  hats 
and  handkerchiefs,  and  in  every  part  of  the  hall  there 
was  the  greatest  commotion  and  uproar.)  You  have 
had  your  turn  now ;  let  me  have  mine  again.  (Loud 
applause  and  laughter.)  If  this  present  .  "^ruggle  shall 
eventuate  in  the  separation  of  America,  and  making  the 
South  —  [loud  applause,  hisses,  hooting,  and  cries  of 
"Bravo!"]  —  a  slave  territory  exclusively —  [Cries 
of  "  No  !  No !  "  and  laughter]. 

(Interruption  and  uproar.)  My  friends,  I  saw  a 
man  once  who  was  a  little  late  at  a  railway  station  chase 
an  express  train.  He  didn't  catch  it.  (Laughter.) 
If  you  are  going  to  stop  this  meeting  you  have  got  to 
stop  it  before  I  speak ;  for  after  I  have  got  the  things 
out  you  naay  chase  as  long  as  you  please,  you  will  not 
catch  them.    (Laughter  and  interruption.) 


258  HENRY   WARD   BEECHER 

It  is  said  that  when  Russia  is  now  engaged  in  sup- 
pressing the  liberty  of  Poland  it  is  an  indecent  thing  for 
America  to  flirt  with  her.  I  think  so  too.  (Loud 
cheers.)  Now  you  know  what  we  felt  when  you  were 
flirting  with  Mr.  Mason  at  your  Lord  Mayor's  banquet. 

I  am  tempted  to  draw  my  pencil  through  these 
sentences,  conscious  how  utterly  inadequate  their 
reproduction  here  is  to  suggest  the  alertness  of  the 
speaker  in  the  circumstances  under  which  they 
were  first  produced,  —  the  quickness  of  resource, 
the  facility  of  expression,  the  imperturbable  good 
humor,  the  control  of  himself,  and  therefore  the 
control  of  his  hostile  audience.  It  would  be  quite 
useless  to  take  out  of  their  connection  the  passages 
of  supreme  eloquence,  which  are  scattered  through 
these  addresses,  with  their  passionate  patriotism, 
their  love  of  liberty,  their  courageous  faith  in  the 
power  of  divine  principles,  their  perception  of  the 
essential  unity  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  their  com- 
prehensive and  catholic  inclusion  of  all  struggling 
humanity  everywhere,  whose  battle  the  North  was 
engaged  in  fighting. 

These  more  brilliant  qualities  in  his  English 
speeches  have  concealed  from  the  public  their  more 
sterling  and  permanent  value.  I  am  surprised,  in- 
timate as  my  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Beecher  was, 
at  the  accuracy  of  historical  information,  the  sta- 
tistical knowledge,  the  detailed  acquaintance  with 
economic  and  industrial  aspects  of  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, which  could  not  have  been  crammed  up  in 
special  preparation  for  these  addresses,  separated 


THE  CAMPAIGN  IN  ENGLAND  259 

as  he  was  from  his  library,  and  from  all  access  to 
American  sources  of  information.  His  clear  appre- 
hension of  the  constitutional  issues  involved  does 
not  surprise  me,  for  I  knew  him  as  a  careful  con- 
stitutional student.  But  his  ability  to  make  our 
complicated  federal  constitution  clear  to  an  Eng- 
lish audience  would  have  been  remarkable,  even  if 
he  had  been  giving  an  academic  lecture  to  a  quiet 
and  note-taking  class  of  Oxford  students,  instead 
of  a  public  address  to  popular  and  hostile  audi- 
ences, and  subject  to  perpetual  interruption.  Could 
these  five  speeches  be  denuded  of  all  their  dra- 
matic incidents,  —  the  quick  repartee,  the  spark- 
ling humor,  the  fervid  eloquence,  —  and  recon- 
structed as  one  review  article,  discussing  the  issues 
of  the  hour  in  their  bearing  on  English  people  and 
English  politics,  the  article  would  be  a  notable 
contribution  for  the  clearness  of  its  insight,  the 
breadth  of  its  view,  and  the  unanswerable  logic  of 
its  argument. 

In  Manchester,  where  the  spirit  of  individualism 
had  its  birth,  where  the  freedom  of  labor  was  recog- 
nized, and  where  the  interests  of  the  laboring-man 
were  predominant,  Mr.  Beecher  traced  the  history 
of  the  anti-slavery  conflict,  showed  that  it  was  a 
conflict  between  free  and  slave  labor,  that  the-  Civil 
War  had  grown  out  of  it,  and  that  the  result  of 
Northern  victory  would  eventually  be  "  the  eman- 
cipation of  every  living  being  on  the  continent 
of  America."  At  Glasgow,  the  great  labor  city  of 
the  border  line  between   England  and   Scotland, 


260  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

emphasizing  the  same  truth,  he  showed  that  slavery 
brings  labor  into  contempt,  that  freedom  honors 
it ;  that  free  labor  promotes  virtue  and  intelligence, 
and  that  virtue  and  intelligence  compel  leniency 
of  government;  that  slave  labor  promotes  igno- 
rance and  vice,  and  ignorance  and  vice  compel 
tyranny  in  government ;  that  thus  "  the  American 
question  is  the  workingman's  question  all  over  the 
world.  The  slave  master's  doctrine  is  that  capital 
should  own  labor  —  that  the  employer  should  own 
the  employed.  This  is  Southern  doctrine  and  South- 
ern practice.  Northern  doctrine  and  Northern  prac- 
tice is  that  the  laborer  should  be  free,  intelligent, 
clothed  with  full  citizen's  rights,  with  a  share  of 
the  political  duties  and  honors."  In  Edinburgh  he 
traced  the  rise  and  development  of  the  American 
Union,  explained  the  nature  of  its  Constitution, 
traced  the  progress  of  the  anti-slavery  conflict,  and 
showed  how  the  Civil  War  was  the  inevitable  out- 
come of  that  conflict,  and  how  the  victory  of  the 
North  inevitably  involved  the  victory  of  represent- 
ative government  and  universal  liberty.  In  Liver- 
pool, whose  commercial  interests  were  supposed  to 
be  favorable  to  the  recognition  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  and  the  breaking  of  the  blockade,  he 
showed  that  slavery  is  hostile  to  commerce  and  to 
manufactures ;  that  Great  Britain  wanted  chiefly, 
not  cotton,  but  consumers  ;  that  a  slave  nation  must 
be  a  poor  customer,  buying  the  fewest  and  the  poor- 
est goods ;  that  a  free  nation  must  be  a  good  cus- 
tomer, buying  the  largest  and  the  best  goods ;  an 


THE  CAMPAIGN  IN  ENGLAND  261 

economic  argument  which  he  supported  by  vital 
statistics,  convincing  and  unanswerable.  At  Exe- 
ter Hall,  in  London,  he  briefly  rehearsed  liis  pre- 
vious speeches,  showed  their  relation  to  each  other 
as  parts  of  a  consecutive  series,  and  then  proceeded 
to  give  his  audience  the  American  point  of  view  of 
the  issues  involved.  It  was  in  this  speech  that  he 
explained  so  clearly  the  nature  of  the  American 
Constitution,  which  is  to  the  Englishman  ordinarily 
so  insoluble  a  problem.  In  this  speech,  too,  occurs 
as  eloquent  and  genuine  an  expression  of  the  love 
of  liberty,  imperishable  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  heart, 
as  can  be  found  in  Anglo-Saxon  literature. 

Standing  by  my  cradle,  standing  by  my  hearth,  stand- 
ing by  the  altar  of  the  church,  standing  by  all  the  places 
that  mark  the  name  and  memory  of  heroic  men  who 
poured  their  blood  and  lives  for  principle,  I  declare  that 
in  ten  or  twenty  years  of  war  we  will  sacrifice  everything 
we  have  for  principle.  If  the  love  of  popular  liberty  is 
dead  in  Great  Britain,  you  will  not  understand  us  ;  but 
if  the  love  of  liberty  lives  as  it  once  lived,  and  has 
worthy  successors  of  those  renowned  men  that  were  our 
ancestors  as  much  as  yours,  and  whose  examples  and 
principles  we  inherit  to  make  fruitful  as  so  much  seed- 
corn  in  a  new  and  fertile  land,  then  you  will  understand 
our  firm,  invincible  determination  —  deep  as  the  sea, 
firm  as  the  mountains,  but  calm  as  the  heavens  above 
us  —  to  fight  this  war  through  at  all  hazards  and  at 
every  cost. 

If  by  oratory  we  mean  power  to  produce  a  real 
and  enduring  effect  on  a  great  audience,  and  if  the 
greatest  test  of  oratory  is  conquering  a  hostile  audi- 


262  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

ence  and  producing  a  permanent  effect  upon  the 
hearers  in  spite  of  their  hostility,  then  Mr.  Beecher's 
five  orations  in  England  take  deserved  place  among 
the  great  forensic  triumphs  of  the  world,  —  by  the 
side  of  the  orations  of  Demosthenes  against  the 
Crown,  and  Cicero's  orations  against  Catiline.  The 
orators  of  the  American  Revolution  spoke  to  sym- 
pathizing audiences,  those  of  the  anti-slavery  ora- 
tors in  the  American  anti-slavery  campaign  pro- 
duced far  less  immediate  effect,  the  orations  of  the 
great  orators  in  the  British  House  of  Commons  — 
Chatham,  Fox,  and  Burke  —  rarely  changed  the 
vote  of  the  House,  and  the  victories  which  Lord 
Erskine  won  over  juries,  in  spite  of  the  threats  of 
the  judges  and  the  influence  of  the  government, 
were  not  won  under  circumstances  so  hostile,  nor 
were  they  so  far-reaching  in  their  effects.  What 
effect  Mr.  Beecher's  speeches  had  on  English  pub- 
lic sentiment,  and  on  English  and  American  his- 
tory, it  is  not  possible  accurately  to  estimate.  But 
this  much  at  least  I  believe  it  is  safe  to  say :  by 
them  he  enlisted  democratic  England  against  feudal 
England,  the  England  of  the  Puritan  against  the 
England  of  the  Cavalier,  the  England  of  the  plain 
people  against  the  England  of  the  aristocracy ;  by 
them  he  did  much  to  counteract  the  deliberate  and 
persistent  efforts  to  misrepresent  the  American 
problem  and  the  American  public ;  did  even  more 
to  clear  away  unintentional  and  natural  misunder- 
standing ;  made  English  intervention  in  the  Amer- 
ican conflict  impossible ;  aided  to  make  possible  the 


THE  CAMPAIGN  IN  ENGLAND  263 

subsequent  arbitration  of  the  international  difficul- 
ties between  England  and  America,  growing  out  of 
the  Alabama  claims  ;  and  foresaw,  foretold,  and 
prepared  for  that  impalpable  and  unofficial  alliance 
between  England  and  America  which  promises  in 
the  future  to  give  justice,  order,  and  stability  to 
the  whole  world. 


CHAPTER  XI 

RECONSTRUCTION 

In  November,  1863,  Mr.  Beecher  returned  from 
England,  to  find  himseK  suddenly  popular,  in  un- 
expected quarters  in  his  own  land.  He  had  fought 
in  Great  Britain  crowds  hostile  to  America,  he  had 
conquered  for  his  native  land  at  least  a  hearing, 
and  the  pride  and  patriotism  of  Americans  of  all 
classes  were  gratified  and  ready  to  express  gratifi- 
cation. In  his  own  city  of  Brooklyn  he  was  given 
what  was  tantamount  to  an  ovation  lasting  several 
days.  Three  successive  meetings  of  welcome  were 
given  to  him :  two  by  his  church  on  Tuesday  and 
Wednesday  evenings;  another  by  the  citizens  of 
Brooklyn  on  Thursday  evening  in  the  Academy  of 
Music ;  on  Friday  evening  an  immense  war  meet- 
ing, at  the  same  place,  gave  him  spontaneously 
another  ovation  ;  four  days  later,  still  another  was 
given  to  him  at  a  public  meeting  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  From  this  time  he  was  brought  into  more 
direct  personal  relations  with  the  administration. 
And  to  his  English  service  has  been  not  unnaturally 
attributed  the  fact  that,  when  Charleston  was  sur- 
rendered, Mr.  Beecher  was  selected  by  the  Presi- 
dent to  deliver  the  address  on  the  occasion  of  the 
raising  of  the  flag  over  the  recaptured  Fort  Sumter. 


RECONSTRUCTION  265 

It  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Beecher  to  turn  his 
own  thoughts,  and  those  of  the  audiences  he  was 
privileged  to  address,  from  past  victories  to  present 
and  future  problems.  The  question  of  the  recon- 
struction of  the  South  was  already  coming  to  the 
front.  President  Lincoln's  amnesty  proclamation, 
issued  in  December,  1863,  provided  a  basis  on 
which  government  might  be  organized  in  any  of 
the  Southern  States.  This  proclamation  provided 
that  in  any  states  in  which  there  were  voters  who 
availed  themselves  of  this  proclamation,  equal  in 
numbers  to  ten  per  cent,  of  the  voters  of  1860, 
they  might  proceed  to  organize  a  state  govern- 
ment, and  that  any  provision  which  might  be 
adopted  by  such  state  government  in  relation  to 
the  freed  people  of  such  state,  which  should  recog- 
nize and  declare  their  permanent  freedom,  provide 
for  their  education,  and  yet  be  consistent  as  a  tem- 
porary arrangement  with  their  present  condition  as 
a  laboring,  landless,  and  homeless  class,  would  not 
be  objected  to  by  the  national  executive.  On 
January  4,  1864,  a  free-state  convention  was  held 
at  New  Orleans  under  this  proclamation,  and  the 
first  steps  were  taken  for  the  organization  of  a  re- 
constructed state  government  in  accordance  with 
its  terms.  The  President's  proclamation,  and  the 
prompt  response  of  the  state  of  Louisiana,  acting 
under  that  proclamation,  brought  the  question  of 
reconstruction  to  the  front,  although  the  war  was 
not  yet  ended. 

Mr.  Beecher,  in  public  addresses,  at  once  fore- 


266  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

shadowed  the  general  principles  which  he  expected 
to  maintain,  and  which  in  fact  he  did  maintain 
during  all  the  reconstruction  period.  On  the  10th 
of  February,  1864,  he  introduced  an  ex-Confeder- 
ate brigadier-general  in  Plymouth  Church,  who 
spoke  in  favor  of  the  complete  abolition  of  slavery. 
In  introducing  him  Mr.  Beecher  said :  "I  wish  to 
say  to  the  people  of  the  South  and  Southwest, 
through  the  speaker,  that  there  never  was  a  com- 
munity so  large  which  had  so  little  animosity  toward 
the  South  —  and  if  slavery  were  taken  away  there 
would  be  nothing  between  us  but  the  heart-beat." 
A  year  later  he  declared  himself  in  favor  of  grant- 
ing suffrage  to  the  negroes ;  two  months  thereafter 
he  took  the  occasion  furnished  by  the  news  of  the 
capture  of  Richmond,  telegraphed  to  him  from 
Secretary  Stanton,  to  rebuke  the  spirit  of  revenge 
and  the  spirit  of  exultation  over  a  fallen  foe, 
which  was  common  throughout  the  North,  and  to 
advocate  the  reestablishment  of  fraternal  feeling 
between  the  two  sections  which  had  been  at  war. 
Three  days  later,  at  a  public  meeting  for  the 
expression  of  gratulation  over  recent  victories,  he 
repeated  these  remarks  of  peace  and  good  will.  And 
to  his  own  church,  on  the  occasion  of  his  departure 
to  deliver  his  memorable  address  at  Fort  Sumter, 
he  said,  "  I  go  down  to  say  to  them  (the  people  of 
the  South)  the  day  dawns  and  the  darkness  of  the 
night  is  past,  and  as  brethren  to  brethren  I  come 
to  say  to  you,  good  tidings  of  great  joy.  The 
day  on  which  the  old  flag  is  to  be  raised  is  Good 


RECONSTRUCTION  267 

Friday  ;  and  as  Christ  was  raised  to  bring  life  and 
liberty  into  the  world,  so  will  the  flag  carry  renewed 
life  and  liberty  to  the  South.  And  as  Plymouth 
Church  has  been  known  as  an  anti-slavery  church, 
let  your  word  be  hereafter  national  fraternity  and 
national  benevolence,  as  I  know  it  will  be."  The 
church  officially  indorsed  these  principles  by  a 
minute  passed,  I  believe,  without  a  dissenting  vote. 
In  this  minute,  the  church,  aiming  to  reflect  the 
better  sentiment  of  the  North,  disavowed  in  explicit 
terms  all  feeling  of  revenge,  and  all  desire  for 
special  privilege,  and  urged  the  Christian  men  of 
the  South  "  to  hasten  on  the  reconciliation  which 
we  and  all  Christians  at  the  North  desire,  and  to 
take  the  lead  in  restoring  peace  to  a  country  which 
can  never  be  divided." 

In  all  the  mutations  of  public  feeling  and  all 
the  strife  of  parties  which  followed,  and  which 
made  the  reconstruction  period  one  of  such  great 
perplexity,  because  of  such  tangled  policies  and 
vacillating  purposes,  Mr.  Beecher  maintained  the 
spirit  of  confidence  in  the  South  and  of  good  wiU. 
toward  it,  expressed  by  him  in  this  address  and  by 
his  church  in  its  official  response.  He  believed  and 
taught  that  a  sound  reconstruction  policy  involved 
a  very  few  fundamental  principles,  and  he  empha- 
sized now  one,  now  the  other,  as  necessity  seemed 
to  require,  but  he  never  departed  from  them  or 
modified  them  in  any  particular.  It  will  therefore 
be  more  convenient,  in  interpreting  his  attitude, 
not  to  follow  a  strictly  chronological  order.    For 


268  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

his  principles  remained  the  same  under  Andrew 
Johnson  as  under  Abraham  Lincoln,  in  1868  as  in 
1863. 

The  problem  of  reconstruction,  as  it  presented 
itself  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  to  the  people 
of  the  North,  was  a  very  difficult  and  perplexing 
one.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  best  minds  differed 
respecting  the  method  of  its  solution.  The  great 
majority  of  the  best  citizens  in  the  South  believed 
as  firmly  as  ever  in  the  right  of  secession,  and  in 
the  political  and  industrial  subordination  of  the 
African  race.  The  loyalty  of  the  masses,  and  of 
most  of  the  leaders,  consisted  in  submission  to 
necessity.  Emancipation  was  endured  because  it 
could  not  be  avoided.  Although  the  f  reedman  was 
no  longer  considered  the  chattel  of  the  individual 
master,  plans  were  rife  to  make  him  a  serf  attached 
to  the  soil,  or,  if  this  were  impracticable,  to  keep 
him  in  industrial  and  political  subjection  in  the 
state.  There  was  believed  to  be,  not  without 
apparent  reason,  a  real  danger  that  if  the  South 
were  left  free  to  frame  its  own  institutions,  it 
would  build  up  a  new  form  of  feudalism,  scarcely 
less  oppugnant  to  the  democratic  idea  than  the  old 
form  of  feudalism  had  been.  General  Grant,  whose 
generous  sentiments  toward  the  South  are  now 
universally  recognized,  declared,  as  the  result  of  a 
tour  of  inspection  in  some  of  the  Southern  States 
during  the  months  of  November  and  December, 
1865,  that  it  was  not  then  safe  to  withdraw  the 
military  from   the    South;    that    the  whites   and 


RECONSTRUCTION  269 

blacks  each  required  the  protection  of  the  general 
government.  This  was  not  wholly  due  to  perils 
from  a  turbulent  white  population.  ''The  late 
slave,"  he  said,  "  seems  to  be  imbued  with  the  idea 
that  the  property  of  his  late  master  should  by  right 
belong  to  him,  or  at  least  shoidd  have  no  protec- 
tion from  the  colored  soldier."  He  added  that  in 
some  instances  "  the  freedman's  mind  does  not 
seem  to  be  disabused  of  the  idea  that  a  freedman 
has  the  right  to  live  without  care  or  provision  for 
the  future." 

A  great  variety  of  plans  for  treating  the  states 
lately  in  revolt  were  proposed.  Some  would  regard 
the  whole  Confederate  territory  as  a  conquered 
province,  and  govern  it  under  military  law,  read- 
mitting states  and  territories  from  time  to  time, 
as  the  conditions  seemed  favorable.  Some  would 
readmit  the  states  as  they  were,  excluding  from 
the  suffrage  all  those  persons  who  had  taken  an 
active  part  in  the  war  of  rebellion,  thus  leaving 
the  suffrage  in  the  hands  of  the  loyal  whites,  who 
in  all  the  states  would  have  constituted  a  limited, 
and  in  some  of  them  a  not  very  intelligent,  minority. 
Some  would  establish  universal  suffrage,  except  for 
the  exclusion  of  a  small  number  of  secession  leaders, 
but  including  the  whole  body  of  the  negroes,  re- 
gardless of  their  intellectual  or  moral  qualifica^ 
tions.  Some,  maintaining  the  somewhat  doctrinaire 
ground  that  the  state  had  not  been  in  revolt,  but 
that  a  mob  had  been  in  possession  of  the  state, 
proposed  to  consider  the  mob  dissolved,  and  the 


270  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

state  as  of  right  entitled  to  its  old  place  in  the 
Union  and  its  old  representation  in  Congress. 
There  were  serious  objections  to  each  one  of  these 
plans.  To  the  military  plan  —  because  it  would 
create  a  centralized  power  in  Washington  which 
might  easily  become  despotic  in  the  South,  and 
perilous  to  the  whole  nation.  To  the  organization 
of  the  states  by  giving  all  the  political  power  to 
the  loyal  whites  —  because  it  would  create  in  all 
the  Southern  States  government  by  minority,  and 
in  some  of  them  by  a  minority  very  narrow  and 
not  very  intelligent.  To  the  plan  of  universal  suf- 
frage —  because  it  would  place  the  prosperity  of 
the  South  in  the  hands  of  an  ignorant  democracy, 
and  would  be  liable  to  create  a  war  between  the 
races.  To  the  restoration  of  the  Southern  States 
as  they  were  before  the  war — because  it  would 
reestablish  the  slave-holding  oligarchy,  unchanged 
in  spirit,  though  placed  under  new  conditions. 

The  difficulty  of  the  situation  was  enhanced  by 
the  strife  of  parties.  Many  of  the  Kepublican 
leaders  desired  universal  suffrage,  because  they 
counted  on  the  negro  vote  to  secure  for  the  Repub- 
lican party  supremacy  in  the  Southern  States ; 
many  of  the  Democratic  leaders  desired  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Southern  States  on  the  old 
basis,  because  it  would  restore  the  Democratic 
party  to  its  old  supremacy  in  national  affairs.  The 
ineradicable  distrust  of  the  Southern  leaders  by  the 
North,  and  the  passionate  hate  engendered  by  the 
war,  were  enormously  increased  by  the  assassina- 


RECONSTRUCTION  271 

tion  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  Finally,  the  fact  that 
President  Johnson,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Lincohi, 
and  was  himseK  a  Southerner,  took,  as  time  went 
on,  more  and  more  of  the  Southern  and  Democratic 
side  of  the  question,  developed  a  bitter  hostility 
between  himself  and  the  Republican  majority  in 
Congress  and  throughout  the  North.  All  these 
conditions  combined  to  keep  alive  sectional  feeling, 
to  create  a  solid  North  on  one  side,  and  a  solid 
South  on  the  other,  and  to  make  impossible  that 
harmony  of  feeling  which  is  essential  to  harmony 
of  political  action.  It  is  easy  now  to  criticise  the 
reconstruction  measures  which  the  radical  majority 
in  Congress  finally  adopted  and  the  radical  majority 
in  the  North  ratified,  but  it  is  not  so  easy  to  point 
out  any  better  policy  which  could  have  been  taken. 
The  truth  is,  after  three  centuries  of  slavery,  fol- 
lowed by  four  years  of  terrible  civil  war,  no  policy 
of  reconstruction  was  possible  which  would  not  be 
accompanied  with  many  and  great  political,  social, 
and  industrial  evils.  The  nation  has  not  yet  paid 
the  full  penalty  of  its  violation  of  its  fundamental 
principles  of  justice  and  Kberty. 

Mr.  Beecher's  views  on  reconstruction  are  mainly 
to  be  found  in  three  documents :  his  address  at  the 
raising  of  the  Union  flag  over  Fort  Sumter,  April 
14,  1865  ;  his  sermon  on  the  "  Conditions  of  a 
Restored  Union,"  preached  in  Plymouth  Church, 
October  29,  1865,  during  the  early  stages  of  the 
debates  over  the  reconstruction  of  the  Southern 
States ;  and  his  two   letters,  written  respectively 


272  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

August  30  and  September  8,  1866,  known  as  the 
Cleveland  letters.^ 

In  the  address  at  Fort  Sumter,  his  formulation 
of  the  conditions  of  reconstruction  is  very  simple. 
These  conditions,  as  he  states  them,  are  three  in 
number :  — 

First.  That  these  United  States  shall  be  one  and 
indivisible. 

Second.  That  states  are  not  absolute  sovereigns, 
and  have  no  right  to  dismember  the  repubhc. 

Third.  That  universal  liberty  is  indispensable  to 
republican  government,  and  that  slavery  shall  be 
utterly  and  forever  abolished. 

These  conditions,  which  now  seem  axiomatic,  did 
not  seem  so  then,  not  even  to  all  the  people  of  the 
North,  still  less  to  the  people  of  the  South.  To 
the  emphatic  elucidation  of  these  conditions  he  de- 
votes the  first  part  of  this  address.  To  an  interpre- 
tation of  the  benefits  conferred  alike  upon  North 
and  South  by  the  war  he  devotes  the  second  part 
of  it.  A  few  sentences  must  suffice  to  indicate  its 
general  spirit. 

We  exult,  not  for  passion  gratified,  but  for  a  senti- 
ment victorious  ;  not  for  a  temper,  but  for  a  conscience  ; 
not  as  we  devoutly  believe,  that  our  will  has  been  done, 
but  that  God's  will  hath  been  done. 

Let  no  man  misread  the  meaning  of  this  unfolding 
flag !  It  says,  "  Government  hath  returned  hither."  — 
It  proclaims,  in  the  name  of  vindicated  government, 
peace  and  protection  to  loyalty;  humiliation  and  pain 

^  All  three  documents  will  be  found  in  Patriotic  Addresses. 


RECONSTRUCTION  273 

to  traitors.  This  is  the  flag  of  sovereignty.  The  Na- 
tion, not  the  States,  is  sovereign.  Restored  to  author- 
ity this  flag  commands,  not  supplicates. 

One  Nation  under  one  government^  without  slavery^ 
has  been  ordained  and  shall  stand.  There  can  be  peace 
on  no  other  basis.  On  this  basis  reconstruction  is  easy, 
and  needs  neither  architect  nor  engineer.  Without  this 
basis  no  engineer  or  architect  shall  ever  reconstruct 
these  rebellious  states. 

Emerging  from  such  a  prolonged  rebellion,  he  is 
blind  who  tells  you  that  the  State,  by  a  mere  amnesty 
and  benevolence  of  Government,  can  be  put  again,  by  a 
mere  decree,  in  its  old  place.  It  would  not  be  honest, 
it  would  not  be  kind  or  fraternal,  for  me  to  pretend  that 
the  Southern  revolution  against  the  Union  has  not  re- 
acted, and  wrought  revolution  in  the  Southern  States 
themselves,  and  inaugurated  a  new  dispensation.  So- 
ciety is  like  a  broken  loom,  and  the  piece  which  rebel- 
lion was  weaving,  has  been  cut,  and  every  thread  bro- 
ken. You  must  put  in  new  warp  and  new  woof,  —  and 
weaving  anew,  as  the  fabric  slowly  unwinds,  we  shall 
see  in  it  no  gorgon  figures,  no  hideous  grotesques  of 
the  old  barbarism,  but  the  figures  of  vines  and  golden 
grains  framing  in  the  heads  of  Justice,  Love  and  Lib- 
erty! 

Is  it  feared  that  the  rights  of  the  States  will  be  with- 
held ?  The  South  is  not  more  jealous  of  their  state  rights 
than  the  North.  State  rights,  from  the  earliest  colonial 
days  have  been  the  peculiar  pride  and  jealousy  of  New 
England.  In  every  stage  of  national  formation  it  was 
peculiarly  Northern,  and  not  Southern,  statesmen  that 
guarded  State  rights  as  we  were  forming  the  Constitu- 
tion. But,  once  united,  the  loyal  States  gave  up  forever 
that  which  had  been  delegated  to  the  National  Govern- 
ment.   And  now  in  the  hour  of  victory,  the  loyal  States 


274  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

do  not  mean  to  trench  upon  Southern  States'  rights. 
They  will  not  do  it  or  suffer  it  to  be  done.  There  is 
not  to  be  one  rule  for  high  latitudes  and  another  for 
low.  We  take  nothing  from  Southern  States  that  has 
not  already  been  taken  from  Northern.  The  South  shall 
have  just  those  rights  that  every  Eastern,  every  Middle, 
every  Western  State  has,  —  no  more,  no  less. 

In  this  address  Mr.  Beecher  did  not  discuss  the 
question  of  negro  suffrage.  In  his  sermon  on  the 
"  Conditions  of  a  Restored  Union  "  ^  he  enters  more 
fully  into  the  question  what  these  conditions  should 
be.  He  urges  that  "  the  South  should  be  restored 
at  the  earliest  practicable  moment  to  a  participa- 
tion in  our  common  government.  It  is  best  for  us  ; 
it  is  best  for  them."  The  North  should  not  wait 
for  their  conversion  from  secession.  "  Let  men  say 
that  secession  ought  to  have  been  allowed  —  if 
they  accept  the  fact  that  it  is  forever  disalloiced 
by  the  people  of  this  Continent."  The  North  should 
not  wait  for  guarantees  for  the  future.  "What 
guarantees  ?  How  are  we  to  secure  them  ?  I  think 
that  the  best  guarantee  that  can  be  given  is  the 
utter  destruction  of  slavery."  The  North  should 
not  demand  that  the  South  be  further  humbled. 
"  I  think  it  to  be  the  great  need  of  this  Nation  to 
save  the  self-respect  of  the  South."  But  certain 
precedent  conditions  should  be  imposed.     "  It  is 

^  This  sermon  was  preached  in  October,  1865,  six  months  after 
the  assassination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  before  the  introduction 
of  the  reconstruction  measures  into  Congress,  and  the  famous  speech 
of  Thaddeus  Stevens  urging  the  measures  which  were  subsequently 
adopted. 


RECONSTRUCTION  275 

right  that  state  conventions  should  be  required  to 
abolish  slavery,  and  to  assist  in  the  amendment  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  that  re- 
gard, so  that  any  state  that  might  try  to  rejuvenate 
slavery  should  under  the  Constitution  be  unable  to 
do  it."  "  Before  the  States  of  the  South  are  rein- 
stated these  conventions  should  have  ascertained, 
and  presented,  and  established  the  condition  of  the 
freedman.  They  should  have  established,  first,  his 
right  to  labor,  and  to  hold  property,  with  all  its 
concomitants.  They  should  have  established  his 
right  to  labor  as  he  pleases,  where  he  pleases,  and 
for  whom  he  pleases,  and  to  have  sole  and  undivided 
the  proceeds  of  his  own  earnings,  with  the  liberty 
to  do  with  them  as  he  pleases  just  as  any  other 
citizen  does.  They  should  also  have  made  him  to 
be  the  equal  of  all  other  men  before  the  courts  and 
in  the  eye  of  the  law.  He  should  be  just  as  much 
qualified  to  be  a  witness  as  the  man  that  assaidts 
him."  Mr.  Beecher's  statement  as  to  negTo  suf- 
frage must  be  given  more  fully  because  it  involves 
an  explanation  of  his  radical  view  on  the  suffrage 
question  in  its  various  aspects  :  — 

I  hold  that  it  would  have  been  wise,  also,  for  these 
conventions  to  have  given  him  the  right  of  suffrage  — 
for  it  is  always  inexpedient  and  foolish  to  deny  a  man 
his  natural  rights.  And  I  yet  stand  on  the  ground  that 
suffrage  in  our  community  is  not  a  privilege,  or  a  pre- 
rogative, but  a  natural  right.  That  is  to  say,  if  there 
is  any  such  thing  as  a  natural  right,  a  man  has  a  natural 
right  to  determine  the  laws  that  involve  his  life,  and 


276  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

liberty,  and  property.  He  has  a  right  to  have  a  voice 
in  the  election  of  those  magistrates  who  have  to  do 
with  his  whole  civil  j^rosperity.  If  the  right  to  deter- 
mine the  laws  and  magistracies  under  which  one  exists 
is  not  a  natural  right,  I  know  not  what  a  natural  right 
is.  It  is  not  giving  the  colored  man  a  privilege  to 
allow  him  to  vote  :  it  is  developing  a  long  dormant 
natural  right. 

It  may  be  proper  to  say  here  that  Mr.  Beecher 
accepted,  with  possibly  one  reservation,  to  be  pre- 
sently noted,  all  the  logical  deductions  from  his 
premise  that  suffrage  is  a  natural  right.^  He  de- 
manded suffrage  for  the  immigrant  no  less  than 
for  the  negro.  In  an  address  delivered  February 
20,  1860,  he  said :  "  I  am  for  universal  suffrage. 
Would  you  allow  the  shiploads  of  foreigners 
emptied  on  these  shores  to  vote  at  once  ?  I  would. 
Don't  you  consider  it  a  great  evil  ?  I  consider 
it  an  evil,  but  less  than  not  having  them  vote. 
Although  it  may  be  a  great  inconvenience  to  teach 
them,  I  hold  that  all  foreigners  should  vote. 
Then  will  you  go  a  step  farther  and  admit  women 
to  vote  ?  Even  so  I  would.  It  is  my  settled  con- 
viction, for  opinion  is  not  strong  enough,  that  wo- 
men are  not  in  the  way  of  duty  when  they  do  not 
give  consideration  to  the  duty  which  God  in  his 
providence  is  waiting  to  put  upon  them  ;  for  when 
woman  feels  that  she  has  a  duty  to  perform  in  this 

1  From  both  the  premise  and  the  deductions  I  dissent.  The 
practical  effects  of  universal  suffrage  afford  the  final  argument 
against  it. 


RECONSTRUCTION  277 

matter  and  demands  the  ballot,  she  will  have  it." 
A  year  later  he  reaffirms  the  same  principle,  apply- 
ing it  more  fully  to  woman  suffrage,  and  insisting 
that  "  the  individual  is  the  unit  of  society,  and  not 
the  family.  And  there  can  be  no  greater  blunder  in 
philosophical  statement  than  to  hold  anything  else 
in  our  day."  A  year  and  a  half  later,  in  a  speech 
for  General  Grant,  October  9, 1868,  he^consistently 
puts  voting  before  education.  "  It  has  been  said 
that  a  man  has  been  educated  to  vote,  but  I  declare 
that  voting  educates  a  man.  As  to  the  blacks,  how 
long  would  it  have  been  before  any  one  would  have 
taken  the  trouble  to  explain  to  them  about  political 
affairs  if  they  had  not  the  right  of  suffrage." 

Mr.  Beecher's  consent  that  negro  suffrage  should 
be  limited  in  the  first  instance  to  negroes  who  bore 
arms  is  hardly  consistent,  philosophically,  with  his 
position  that  suffrage  is  a  natural  right :  for  it  may 
well  be  claimed  that  if  government  has  the  power  to 
protect  the  natural  rights  of  its  citizens,  it  has  the 
duty  of  protecting  them.  But  Mr.  Beecher  was 
never  a  doctrinaire.  Idealist  he  was  in  the  ends  he 
sought,  but  he  was  always  practical  in  his  choice  of 
the  means  to  be  employed.  As  in  the  preceding 
decade  he  had  kept  steadily  in  view  the  ultimate 
abolition  of  slavery,  but  had  been  ready  to  accom- 
plish it  by  the  restriction  of  slavery  within  pre- 
scribed limits,  so  now  he  sought  as  the  final  result 
universal  suffrage,  but  was  willing  to  accept  a  lim- 
ited suffrage  as  the  first  step  toward  that  result. 
He  believed  in  universal  suffrage,  but  he  did  not 


278  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

believe  In  forcing  his  belief  upon  the  South  against 
the  opposition  of  the  Southern  whites.  "  The  best 
intentions  of  the  government,"  he  said,  "  will  be 
defeated,  if  the  laws  that  are  made  touching  this 
matter  [the  general  treatment  of  the  negro]  are 
suoh  as  are  calculated  to  excite  the  animosity  and 
hajred  of  the  white  people  in  the  South  toward  the 
black  peopl^  there.  I  except  the  single  decree  of 
emancipation.  That  must  stand,  though  men  dis- 
like it."  The  reason  why  any  coercive  measures 
would  be  unwise  was  that  they  would  excite  such 
race  animosity.  "  All  measures,"  he  said,  "  insti- 
tuted under  the  act  of  emancipation  for  the  blacks, 
in  order  to  be  permanently  useful  must  have  the 
cordial  consent  of  the  wise  and  good  citizens  of 
the  South.  .  .  .  These  men  [the  negroes]  are  scat- 
tered in  fifteen  States ;  they  are  living  contiguous 
to  their  old  masters ;  the  kindness  of  the  white  man 
in  the  South  is  more  important  to  them  than  all  the 
policies  of  the  nation  put  together."  He  was  there- 
fore wiUing  to  let  the  claim  for  suffrage  wait  upon 
processes  of  education.  "  I  am  satisfied  that,  while 
we  ought  to  claim  for  the  colored  man  the  right  to 
the  elective  franchise,  you  never  will  be  able  to 
secure  it  and  maintain  it  for  him,  except  by  making 
him  so  intelligent  that  men  cannot  deny  it  to  him. 
You  cannot  long  in  this  country  deny  to  a  man 
any  civil  right  for  which  he  is  manifestly  qualified. 
And  if  the  colored  man  is  industrious  and  accu- 
mulates property,  and  makes  a  wise  use  of  that 
property,  you  cannot  long  withhold  from  him  his 


RECONSTRUCTION  279 

civil  rights.  We  ought  to  demand  universal  suf- 
frage, which  is  the  foundation  element  of  our 
American  doctrine  ;  yet  I  demand  many  things  in 
theory  which  I  do  not  at  once  expect  to  see  real- 
ized in  practice.  I  do  not  expect  to  see  universal 
suffrage  in  the  South  ;  but  if  the  Southern  peo- 
ple will  not  agree  to  universal  suffrage,  le,  it 
be  understood  that  there  shall  be  a  property  and 
educational  qualification.  Let  it  be  understood 
that  men  who  have  acquired  a  certain  amount  of 
property,  and  can  read  and  write,  shall  be  allowed 
to  vote.  I  do  not  think  that  the  possession  of 
property  is  a  true  condition  on  which  to  found 
the  right  to  vote ;  but  as  a  transition  step  I  will 
accept  it,  when  I  would  not  accept  it  as  a  final 
measure.  It  is  a  good  initial,  though  not  a  good 
final."  1 

He  was  willing  to  accept  even  less  than  this,  as 
a  compromise :  — 

We  want  a  beginning ;  and  I  would  be  willing,  not  as 
a  finality,  but  as  a  stepping-stone  to  what  I  hope  to  get 
by  and  by,  to  take  the  sufErage  for  those  colored  men 
who  bore  arms  in  our  late  war  for  the  salvation  of  this 

1  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  conditional  suffrag-e  has  now 
been  adopted  (1902),  though  as  a  finality,  by  the  voluntary  action 
of  six  of  the  Southern  States,  Virg-inia,  North  and  South  Carolina, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  in  all  of  which  any  negro 
paying^  taxes  on  three  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  property,  and 
able  to  read  and  write,  is  entitled  by  the  recently  amended  consti- 
tutions to  register  and  vote.  If  Mr.  Beecher's  plan  had  been 
adopted  in  1865,  a  long  and  bitter  experience  of  race  antagonism 
in  the  South,  and  sectional  antagonism  in  the  nation,  would  appar- 
ently have  been  avoided. 


280  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

government.^  Now,  I  would  like  to  see  the  man  that 
professes  to  be  a  Democrat,  who  is  opposed  to  a  soldier's 
voting.  Where  is  the  man  who  can  look  in  the  face  of 
tliat  black  hero  who  has  risked  his  life  in  the  thunder 
of  battle  to  preserve  this  country,  and  say,  You  do  not 
deserve  to  vote  ?  The  man  who  could  do  that  is  not 
himself  fit  to  vote.  He  lacks  the  very  first  element  of 
good  citizenship. 

Eecognizing  the  fact  that  universal  suffrage  to 
be  safe  must  be  accompanied  with  universal  intelli- 
gence, Mr.  Beecher  urged  a  vigorous  prosecution 
of  education  in  the  South. 

We  are  to  educate  the  negroes  and  to  Christianly 
educate  them.  We  are  to  raise  them  in  intelligence 
more  and  more,  until  they  shall  be  able  to  prove  them- 
selves worthy  of  citizenship.  For  I  tell  you  all  the  laws 
in  the  world  cannot  bolster  a  man  up  so  as  to  place  him 
any  higher  than  his  own  moral  worth  and  natural  forces 
put  him.  You  may  pass  laws  declaring  that  black  men 
are  men,  and  that  they  are  our  equals  in  social  position ; 
but  unless  you  can  make  them  thoughtful,  industrious, 
self-respecting,  and  intelligent ;  unless,  in  short,  you  can 
make  them  what  you  say  they  have  a  right  to  be,  those 
laws  will  be  in  vain.^ 

1  This  was  also  Mr.  Lincoln's  suggestion,  in  his  famous  letter 
to  Governor  Hahn  of  Louisiana. 

^  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  declaration  of  principles  by 
Mr.  Beecher  in  1865  with  Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington's  declara- 
tion in  1899  :  "  I  believe  the  past  and  present  teach  but  one  les- 
son, —  to  the  Negro's  friends  and  to  the  Negro  himself,  —  that 
there  is  but  one  hope  of  solution  ;  and  that  is  for  the  Negro  in 
every  part  of  America  to  resolve  from  henceforth  that  he  will 
throw  aside  every  non-essential,  and  cling  only  to  essential,  — 
that  this  pillar  of  fire  by  night  and  pillar  of  cloud  by  day  shall 
be  property,  economy,  education,  and  Christian  character."  — 
The  Future  of  the  American  Negro,  p.  132. 


RECONSTRUCTION  281 

But  this  work  of  education  in  the  Southern 
States  Mr.  Beecher  would  not  carry  on  exclusively 
for  the  negro.  He  would  ignore  all  distinctions  of 
race  and  color  in  benefactions,  as  he  would  ignore 
them  in  the  law.  He  would  not  treat  the  South  as 
a  pagan  land,  to  which  missionaries  must  be  sent, 
but  as  a  part  of  a  common  country  to  which  aid 
must  be  given  by  the  richer  and  more  prosperous 
section.  "  We  are,"  he  said,  "  as  far  as  in  us  lies, 
to  prepare  the  black  man  for  his  present  condition 
and  for  his  future,  in  the  same  way  that  we  prepare 
the  white  man  for  his.  And  I  think  it  should  be  a 
joint  work.  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  wise  for 
the  North  to  pour  ministers,  colporters,  and  school- 
masters into  the  South,  making*  a  too  marked  dis- 
tinction between  the  black  people  and  the  white. 
We  ought  to  carry  the  Gospel  and  education  to  the 
whites  and  blacks  alike.  Our  heart  should  be  set 
toward  our  country  and  all  its  people,  without  dis- 
tinction of  caste,  class,  or  color."  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  if  the  North  had  been  animated  by  this  spirit, 
and  had  acted  in  this  temper,  its  missionary  and 
educational  efforts  among  the  negroes  in  the  South 
would  have  lessened  instead  of  intensifying  South- 
em  race  prejudices,  as  in  many  localities  it  has 
done. 

While  Mr.  Beecher  insisted  on  a  policy  of  pro- 
tection for  the  colored  race,  he  also  insisted  on  a 
policy  of  trust  and  confidence  toward  the  Southern 
whites.  He  believed  that  these  two  policies  were 
not  only  reconcilable,  but  that  the  protection  for 


282  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

the  negroes  would  best  be  secured  by  confidence 
in  the  whites.  He  therefore  agreed  with  President 
Johnson  and  the  Democratic  party  in  desiring  the 
unmediate  admission  of  the  Southern  States  to  the 
privileges  and  prerogatives  of  statehood  ;  while,  at 
the  same  time,  he  agreed  with  the  Kepublican  party 
in  desiring  adequate  protection  for  the  rights  and 
adequate  promotion  of  the  education  of  the  colored 
people.  It  would  not  be  correct  to  say  that  he 
occupied  a  position  midway  between  the  two  con- 
tending forces.  But  he  saw  the  truth,  or  what  he 
regarded  as  the  truth,  in  the  position  of  each  of 
them.  It  was  this  desire  of  his  for  the  prompt  re- 
esta,blishment  of  fraternal  relations  between  North 
and  South,  the  quick  cessation  of  military  govern- 
ment, the  earliest  possible  reestablishment  of  civil 
authority,  that  led  him  to  write  the  once  famous 
Cleveland  letter.  A  convention  of  soldiers  and 
sailors  was  called  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Its  object 
was  to  promote  the  policy  of  immediate  restoration 
of  the  Southern  States.  Mr.  Beecher  was  invited 
to  act  as  its  chaplain.  He  declined  the  invita- 
tion, but  in  so  doing  he  wrote  giving  his  views  at 
length,  the  gist  and  purpose  of  his  letter  being 
expressed  in  its  opening  sentence:  "I  heartily 
wish  it  and  all  other  conventions,  of  what  party 
soever,  success,  whose  object  is  the  restoration  of 
all  the  States  late  in  rebellion  to  their  Federal 
relation." 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  now  why  this  letter 
should  have  subjected  Mr.  Beecher  to  the  vehement 


RECONSTRUCTION  283 

and  vituperative  abuse  to  which  he  was  subjected. 
I  suspect  that  the  obnoxious  element  in  the  letter 
was  comprised  in  the  phrase  "  all  other  conven- 
tions, of  what  party  soever."  The  party  feeling 
between  President  Johnson  and  the  Republican 
majority,  which  a  year  and  a  half  later  led  to  the 
impeachment  of  President  Johnson,  was  already 
very  intense.  The  Cleveland  Convention  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  convention  in  President  Johnson's 
interests.  Mr.  Beecher's  letter  was  supposed  to 
separate  the  writer  from  the  Republican  party, 
with  which  he  had  before  cooperated,  and  to  fur- 
nish ammunition  for  the  Democratic  party,  with 
which  President  Johnson  was  beginning  to  cooper- 
ate. It  undoubtedly  did  separate  him  from  the 
radical  wing  of  the  Republican  party. 

In  a  letter,  written  nine  days  subsequently,  to 
a  parishioner,  explaining  but  not  retracting  his 
Cleveland  letter,  he  distinctly  declares  his  separa- 
tion from  the  radicals.  And  this  frank  declaration 
was  the  more  significant,  and  to  a  large  section  of 
the  Republican  party  the  more  obnoxious,  because 
uttered  just  as  the  autumn  congressional  elections 
were  coming  on.  In  this  letter  he  not  only  defines 
his  former  letter,  but  interprets  and  reaffirms 
the  political  speeches  which  for  a  year  past  he 
had  been  delivering  in  various  important  cities. 
"  For  a  year  past,"  he  says,  "  I  h^ve  been  advocat- 
ing the  very  principles  of  the  Cleveland  letter  in 
all  the  chief  Eastern  cities  —  in  Boston,  Portland, 
Springfield,    Albany,    Utica,    Rochester,    Buffalo, 


284  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Philadelphia,  Harrisburg,  Pittsburg,  and  Brook- 
lyn." And  what  these  principles  are  he  makes 
very  clear :  — 

Deeming  the  speedy  admission  of  the  Southern  States 
as  necessary  to  their  own  health,  as  indirectly  the  best 
policy  for  the  freedmen,  as  peculiarly  needful  for  the 
safety  of  our  Government,  which,  for  the  sake  of  accom- 
plishing a  good  end,  incautious  men  are  in  danger  of 
perverting,  I  favored,  and  do  still  favor,  the  election  to 
Congress  of  Republicans  who  will  seek  the  early  admis- 
sion of  the  recusant  states.  Having  urged  it  for  a  year 
past,  I  was  more  than  ready  to  urge  it  again  upon  the 
Representatives  to  Congress  this  fall. 

The  hostility  to  Mr.  Beecher  was  undoubtedly 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  in  previous  discussions 
he  had  strongly —  too  strongly  as  subsequent  history 
shows  —  indorsed  Andrew  Johnson,  as  a  wise  and 
statesmanlike  president.  But  for  this  very  reason 
it  should  have  aroused  the  less  excitement,  cer- 
tainly the  less  surprise.  He  was  not  a  Johnson 
man ;  he  distinctly  and  in  terms  disavowed  being 
a  Johnson  man.  But  he  was  not  an  anti-Jolmson 
man,  and  in  the  then  state  of  public  feeling  in  the 
Republican  party  —  a  year  and  a  half  later  culmi- 
nating in  the  impeachment  of  President  Johnson  — 
not  to  be  a  political  enemy  of  President  John- 
son was,  in  the  eyes  of  the  radical  faction  of  the 
Republican  party,  nothing  less  than  a  capital 
offense. 

There  are  a  great  many  people  who  caimot  un- 
derstand loyalty  to  principle,  who  do  understand 


RECONSTRUCTION  285 

loyalty  to  party.  Principle  seems  to  them  vague, 
indefinite,  intangible ;  the  party  is  a  visible  organ- 
ism, and  whoever  leaves  it  seems  to  them  a  de- 
serter. The  party  is  their  standard ;  if  the  party 
vacillates  and  the  individual  does  not  vacillate  with 
it,  it  is  he,  not  the  organization,  which  seems  to  be 
unstable.  Mr.  Beecher  adhered  to  the  principles 
enunciated  by  Abraham  Lincoln  in  his  amnesty 
proclamation.  President  Johnson  departed  from 
them  in  the  one  direction,  the  radicals  in  another, 
and  all  the  efforts  of  moderate  men,  of  whom  Mr. 
Beecher  was  a  distinguished  representative,  to 
secure  imity  of  counsels  and  of  action  proved  in 
vain.  History  looking  back  now  clearly  sees  what 
Mr.  Beecher  not  less  clearly  foresaw.  He  thus 
states  it  in  his  own  words :  — 

Upon  Mr.  Johnson's  accession  I  was  supremely  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction  that  the  whole  problem  of 
reconstruction  would  pivot  on  the  harmony  of  Mr.  John- 
son and  Congress.  With  that  we  could  have  secured 
every  guaranty  and  every  amendment  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. Had  a  united  Government  said  to  the  South, 
promptly  backed  up  as  it  would  have  been  by  the  united 
North,  "  With  slavery  we  must  take  out  of  the  Consti- 
tution whatever  slavery  put  in,  and  put  in  whatever 
slavery  for  its  own  support  left  out,"  there  can  scarcely 
be  a  doubt  that  long  before  this  the  question  would  have 
been  settled,  the  basis  of  representation  in  the  South 
conformed  to  that  in  the  North,  and  the  principle,  the 
most  fundamental  and  important  of  all,  might  have  been 
established  in  the  Constitution,  viz.  that  manhood  and 
full  citizenship  are  identical. 


286  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Mr.  Beeclier's  independent  refusal  to  follow  the 
leadership  of  the  radical  Kepublicans,  more  than 
his  maintenance  of  the  policy  of  immediate  restora- 
tion of  the  Southern  States,  constituted  the  real 
cause  of  objection  to  his  position.  At  the  same 
time,  the  candid  historian  must  doubt  Mr.  Beecher's 
proposition  that  "  refusing  to  admit  loyal  Senators 
and  Kepresentatives  from  the  South  to  Congress 
will  not  help  the  freedmen,  it  will  not  secure  for 
them  the  vote,  it  will  not  protect  them,  it  will  not 
secure  any  amendment  of  our  Constitution,  how- 
ever just  and  wise."  In  point  of  fact,  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  Southern  States  from  participation  in 
the  government  until  they  had  ratified  Article 
XIV.  of  the  Constitution,  did  secure  that  impor- 
tant constitutional  amendment,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  a  still  more  important  amendment  in  the 
adoption  of  the  Fifteenth  Article.  But  this  con- 
sent to  the  necessary  amendment  of  the  Constitu- 
tion was  coerced  from  a  reluctant  South,  when  that 
consent  might  certainly  have  been  won  from  a 
willing  South  if  the  promptness  and  unity  of  coun- 
sel which  Mr.  Beecher  urged  could  have  been 
secured.  And  that  such  willing  assent  to  the  in- 
dustrial freedom  of  the  negro  and  to  a  qualified 
and  limited  suffrage  would  have  saved  the  South 
years  of  political  disaster  and  industrial  distress, 
and  the  nation  a  long  sectional  strife,  transferred 
from  the  field  of  battle  to  the  field  of  politics,  is  to 
an  increasing  number  of  people  both  North  and 
South  a  demonstrated  fact.    Rereading  in  the  light 


RECONSTRUCTION  287 

of  subsequent  history  the  account  of  the  recon- 
struction period,  and  in  that  period,  Mr.  Beecher's 
speeches  and  letters,  it  appears  even  more  clearly 
than  it  did  then  that  his  counsels  were  as  wise  as 
his  spirit  was  fraternal,  and  that  in  the  period  of 
reconstruction  he  showed  the  spirit  of  a  statesman 
as  truly  as  in  the  period  which  preceded  he  had 
shown  the  spirit  of  a  prophet  and  a  reformer. 


CHAPTER  XII 

UNDER   ACCUSATION 

In  its  immediate  effect  on  national  politics  the 
Cleveland  letter  was  not  of  great  importance. 
Party  strife  was  too  high,  to  permit  either  faction 
to  listen  to  counsels  of  conciliation  and  modera- 
tion. But  it  led  to  an  episode  in  the  life  of  Mr. 
Beecher,  which  for  a  time  threatened  permanently 
to  becloud  his  before  unsullied  reputation.  To  the 
narrative  of  that  episode  it  is  now  necessary  to 
turn. 

For  the  first  thirteen  years  of  its  existence  "  The 
New  York  Independent "  had  been  under  the  edi- 
torial control  of  three  editors,  Doctors  Leonard 
Bacon,  R.  S.  Storrs,  and  Joseph  Thompson,  all 
Congregational  ministers  of  national  eminence. 
At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  December,  1861, 
they  resigned,  and  Mr.  Beecher,  who  had  been  a 
frequent  contributor,  and  whose  sermons  for  the 
three  years  preceding  had  been  published  in  "  The 
Independent,"  became  its  sole  editor.  At  his  re- 
quest, Mr.  Theodore  Tilton,  a  young  protege  of  Mr. 
Beecher  and  a  member  of  Plymouth  Church,  for 
whom  he  had  almost  the  affection  of  a  father,  was 
called  in  to  be  the  assistant  editor.  The  office  work 
of  an  editor  was  never  congenial  to  Mr.  Beecher. 


UNDER  ACCUSATION  289 

He  was  in  constant  demand  during  the  Civil  War 
for  public  addresses,  in  addition  to  his  church  work. 
He  was  neither  able  nor  inclined  to  give  much 
time  to  the  editorial  work  beyond  writing  an  occa- 
sional "  Star  Paper  "  and  editorials.  When  he  went 
to  England,  he  left  "  The  Independent  "  in  the 
charge  of  Mr.  Tilton,  and  shortly  after  his  retui-n, 
in  the  faU  of  1863,  he  withdrew  from  the  active 
duties  of  editor,  leaving  his  name  for  a  time  at  the 
head  of  the  coliunns,  although  practically  Mr.  Til- 
ton  took  his  place.  At  the  same  time  Mr.  Beecher 
entered  into  a  contract  with  Mr.  Bo  wen,  the  pro- 
prietor of  ''  The  Independent,"  by  which  he  agreed 
to  contribute  to  the  paper  and  it  agreed  to  publish 
weekly  his  sermon  or  "  Lecture-Room  Talk."  This 
contract  could  be  dissolved  by  either  party  on  three 
months'  notice.  This  was  in  February,  1864 ;  a 
year  later  Mr.  Tilton  became  editor  in  name  as 
well  as  in  fact. 

When  in  September,  1866,  the  Cleveland  letter 
appeared,  there  appeared  simultaneously  a  caustic 
criticism  of  it  in  the  coliunns  of  "  The  Independ- 
ent ;  "  and  at  the  same  time  the  publication  of  the 
weekly  sermon  was  suspended,  without  explanation 
or  notice  to  Mr.  Beecher.  He  was  forthwith  de- 
luged with  protests  from  subscribers  who  assumed 
that  he  had  withdrawn  his  sermons  from  the  paper 
because  the  paper  had  criticised  him.  He  endured 
this  misinterpretation  for  a  little  while ;  then  he 
gave  the  notice  required  to  close  the  contract  be- 
tween him  and  "  The  Independent  "  and  when  urged 


290  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

by  the  proprietor  to  reconsider  his  decision  declined 
to  do  so.  Three  years  later,  on  the  first  of  January, 
1870,  "The  Christian  Union  "  was  started  by  J.  B. 
Ford  &  Co.,  and  he  became  its  editor-in-chief. 
In  twelve  months  thereafter  the  circulation  of  the 
new  journal  had  grown  to  30,000,  while  that  of 
"  The  Independent  "  had  sensibly  decreased.  For 
Mr.  Tilton  had  proved  to  be  more  brilliant  as  a 
newspaper  writer  than  sagacious  as  a  newspaper 
leader.  His  utterances  on  religious  questions  were 
increasingly  distasteful  to  the  orthodox  churches ; 
and  the  orthodox  churches  were  the  constituency 
to  which  in  the  past  "  The  Independent "  had  ap- 
pealed. His  utterances  on  the  subject  of  marriage 
and  divorce,  though  possibly  no  more  radical  in 
theory  than  those  of  John  Milton,  whom  he  quoted 
in  support  of  them,  were  identified  in  the  public 
mind  with  American  theories  of  socialism  and  free 
love.  The  religious  heresy  might  have  been  toler- 
ated ;  the  social  heresy  was  far  more  obnoxious ; 
protests  poured  in  upon  Mr.  Bowen  from  every 
quarter ;  he  was  finally  forced  to  the  conclusion,  to 
which  he  apparently  came  with  reluctance,  that  a 
change  of  editorial  control  was  indispensable  to  the 
future  success  of  his  journal ;  and  Mr.  Tilton  was 
summarily  dismissed  from  his  editorial  position. 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  Tilton's  domestic  life  was  neither 
peaceful  nor  pleasant.  The  change  which  had  taken 
place  in  his  views  was  an  occasion  of  great  anxiety 
and  pain  to  his  wife,  and  his  mode  of  expressing 
them  would   have   given   pain  and   anxiety  to  a 


UNDER  ACCUSATION  291 

woman  less  sensitive  than  Mrs.  Tilton.  She  was 
anxious  to  know  her  duty  with  reference  to  the 
religious  education  of  her  children,  and  consulted 
her  pastor.  He  advised  patience.  There  were  other 
difficulties  of  a  more  personal  nature,  and  at 
length,  her  patience  exhausted,  she  left  her  hus- 
band, sought  refuge  at  her  mother's  house,  and 
sent  her  pastor  a  request  that  he  would  advise  her 
as  to  her  duty.  He  considted  with  one  of  the  dea- 
cons of  his  church  and  with  his  wife,  and  the  three 
united  in  counseling  a  permanent  separation,  which, 
however,  did  not  at  that  time  take  place.  Such, 
briefly  stated,  were  the  causes  which  led  Mr.  Til- 
ton  to  the  resolve  —  I  quote  his  own  words  —  "  to 
strike  Mr.  Beecher  to  the  heart ;  "  such  the  origin 
of  the  charge  preferred  by  Mr.  Tilton,  and  forming 
the  basis  of  the  persecution  to  which  Mr.  Beecher 
was  subjected  for  five  years,  which  began  with  the 
resolve  of  Mr.  Tilton  in  December,  1870,  and  may 
be  said  to  have  ended  with  the  findings  of  the 
advisory  council  in  February,  1876. 

As  to  the  charge  itself,  it  is  difficult  for  the 
judicial  historian  to  state  it.  First,  Mr.  Tilton 
affirmed  that  Mr.  Beecher  had  made  improper  pro- 
posals to  his  wife,  but  accompanied  the  statement 
with  the  most  solemn  declaration  of  his  wife's 
absolute  innocence  and  purity,  —  "  as  pure  as  an 
angel  in  heaven  "  were  his  words ;  subsequently  he 
converted  the  charge  into  one  of  criminal  conduct. 
Mr.  Beecher's  Puritan  conscience,  New  Ensfland 
training,  and  great  sensitiveness  combined  to  make 


292  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

him  a  purist  as  regards  all  relations  between 
the  sexes.  On  the  trial  that  subsequently  took 
place,  nothing  of  a  suspicious  character  was  proved 
against  him,  except  certain  letters  written  by  him. 
Persuaded  by  a  friend  of  Mr.  Tilton  that  he  had 
acted  upon  misinformation  in  counseling  the  per- 
manent separation  between  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tilton, 
and  that  his  counsel  had  directly  aggravated  Mr. 
Tilton's  domestic  difficulties,  and  indirectly  led  to 
his  dismissal'  by  Mr.  Bowen,  and  so  to  his  social 
and  financial  ruin,  Mr.  Beecher  gave  both  verbal 
and  written  expression  to  the  poignancy  of  his  re- 
gret, in  language  which  was  subsequently  distorted 
into  a  confession  of  crime.  To  one  familiar  with 
Mr.  Beecher's  readiness  to  excuse  his  neighbor  and 
accuse  himself,  these  letters  were  not  ambiguous ; 
to  others  they  might  have  been  so.  That  he  kept 
.silence  concerning  these  charges,  until  they  were 
given  to  the  public  in  a  form  which  made  silence 
no  longer  possible,  was  in  accordance  with  Mr. 
Beecher's  lifelong  principle,  to  pay  no  attention  to 
slanders  against  his  name.  If  he  had  been  more 
suspicious  and  less  unworldly,  he  would  not  have 
accepted  without  questioning  the  assertions  of 
Mr.  Tilton's  friend,  which  led  him  groundlessly  to 
accuse  himself.  If  he  had  early  taken  counsel  of 
other  men  more  suspicious  and  less  unworldly,  he 
would  probably  not  have  been  caught  in  the  net 
which  was  spread  for  him.  But  much  as  his  friends 
may  wish  that  he  could  have  taken  such  counsel, 
they  must  recognize  the  sentiment  of  honor  which 


UNDER  ACCUSATION  293 

forbade  him  both  as  a  gentleman  and  as  a  minister 
to  disclose  to  any  one  secrets  affecting  the  peace 
and  good  name  of  a  member  of  his  own  church. 
That  he  kept  silence  so  long  will  not  be  counted  as 
other  than  a  fact  to  his  honor  by  any  one  who  con- 
siders that  the  strong  incentive  to  speak  was  only 
counteracted  by  the  stronger  obligation  of  silence. 

Not  until  June,  1874,  did  Mr.  Tilton  make  any 
public  charge  against  Mr.  Beecher,  and  then  in 
terms  wholly  vague.  Mr.  Beecher  instantly  re- 
plied to  it  by  a  demand  for  a  full  and  thorough 
investigation.  Then  ensued  a  curious  conflict,  Mr. 
Tilton  and  his  friend  employing  all  their  resources 
to  impede,  thwart,  and  prevent  an  investigation, 
Mr.  Beecher  insisting  that  it  should  be  absolute, 
thorough,  and  complete.  It  was  not  until  after 
this  investigation  was  begun  that  the  charge 
against  Mr.  Beecher  was  altered  from  one  of  im- 
proper proposals  to  one  of  criminal  conduct.  The 
change  was  necessary  in  order  to  lay  a  foundation 
for  the  proceedings  at  law  which  Mr.  Tilton  finally 
brought. 

I  have  here  stated,  though  with  necessary  brevity, 
all  the  facts  essential  to  an  understanding  of  this 
case.  It  only  remains  to  state  with  equal  brevity 
the  results  of  the  three  investigations  —  one  by 
Plymouth  Church,  one  by  the  civil  courts,  and 
one  by  a  council  of  Congregational  churches. 

The  investigation  on  behaK  of  Plymouth  Church 
was  conducted  by  a  special  committee  of  six  gen- 
tlemen weU  known  in  their  community,  and  some 


294  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

possessing  a  more  than  local  reputation.  Among 
them  were  Mr.  Henry  W.  Sage,  since  known  by  his 
benefactions  to  Cornell  University  and  his  services 
as  one  of  its  trustees  ;  Horace  B.  Claflin,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  influential  of  the  great  mer- 
chants of  New  York  City;  and  John  Winslow,  a 
well-known  Brooklyn  lawyer,  who  brought  to  the 
coHunittee  a  recognized  ability  in  the  examination 
and  cross-examination  of  witnesses  and  the  weighing 
of  evidence.  The  conunittee  were  appointed  on  the 
27th  of  June,  1874  ;  they  presented  their  report 
on  the  27  th  of  August ;  and  after  recounting  their 
endeavors  to  ascertain  the  facts,  and  exhaustively 
reviewing  the  evidence  which  they  had  been  able  to 
obtain,  they  reported  that  "  we  find  nothing  what- 
ever in  the  evidence  that  should  impair  the  per- 
fect confidence  of  Plymouth  Church  or  the  world 
in  the  Christian  character  and  integrity  of  Henry 
Ward  Beecher."  This  report,  with  the  evidence  on 
which  it  was  based,  was  reviewed  and  unanimously 
approved  by  the  examining  conunittee,  and  the 
reports  of  both  committees  were  laid  before  the 
church,  after  full  public  notice,  and  unanimously 
adopted  by  fifteen  hundred  members,  substantially 
the  entire  resident  membership  of  the  church. 
This  action  of  the  church  took  place  on  the  28  th 
of  August,  1874. 

The  second  investigation  was  the  trial  before  a 
civil  court  of  an  action  brought  by  Mr.  Tilton 
against  Mr.  Beecher  for  alienating  the  affections 
of  his  wife.    The  trial  dragged  on  for  six  months 


UNDER  ACCUSATION  295 

and  ended  in  a  disagreement  of  the  jury,  nine  of 
whom,  comprising  all  who  were  men  of  Christian 
belief,  affirming  their  belief  in  Mr.  Beecher's  in- 
nocence. Before  the  trial  ended,  however,  the  chief 
lawyer  for  the  prosecution  was  with  difficulty  pre- 
vented from  abandoning  the  case,  and  subsequently 
publicly  avowed  his  belief  in  Mr.  Beecher's  inno- 
cence ;  and  the  judge  who  presided  at  the  trial  testi- 
fied to  his  convictions,  by  presiding,  eight  years  later, 
at  the  meeting  held  in  the  Brooklyn  Academy  of 
Music  in  honor  of  Mr.  Beecher's  seventieth  birthday, 
and  joining  in  the  resolutions  declaring  that  "  by  the 
integrity  of  his  life  and  the  purity  of  his  character 
he  has  vanquished  misrepresentation  and  abuse."  ^ 
A  year  and  a  half  after  this  ti'ial  the  largest 
and  most  representative  council  of  Congregational 
churches  ever  known  in  the  history  of  the  denom- 
ination was  called  by  Plymouth  Church  to  counsel 
it  respecting  its  action,  which  had  been  subjected 
to  severe  criticism  by  the  critics  of  Mr.  Beecher. 
The  roll  of  members  actually  in  attendance  was 
two  hundred  and  forty-four  ;  they  were  summoned 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  and  from  all  schools 
of  thought  in  the  Congregational  denomination,  and 
included  not  a  few  whose  political  or  theological 
prepossessions  would  have  made  them  naturally  sus- 
picious of  Mr.  Beecher.  Its  sessions  were  presided 
over  by  the  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D.,  of  New 
Haven,  as  moderator,.and  the  Hon.  Nelson  Dingley, 
Jr.,  of  Maine,  and  General  Erastus  N.  Bates  of 

^  See  chapter  xui.  p.  326. 


296  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Illinois  as  assistant  moderators.  At  the  opening  of 
this  council  Mr.  Beecher  appeared  before  it,  declar- 
ins:  on  behalf  of  the  church  that  the  council  was 
desired  to  make  whatever  investigation  it  might 
wish  to  make,  by  whatever  plan  of  investigation  it 
deemed  wise,  and  on  his  own  behalf  that  an  ade- 
quate and  just  investigation  of  all  the  circumstances 
in  the  case  was  what  he  most  coveted.  After  the 
investigation  was  completed,  he  reappeared  before 
the  council,  and  was  questioned  at  great  length, 
answering  without  reserve  any  question  which  any 
delegate  chose  to  ask;  and  among  the  delegates 
were  not  only  eminent  clergymen,  but  laymen  of 
national  reputation,  and  among  the  latter  lawyers 
skilled  in  the  art  of  cross-examination.  Being 
without  power  to  subpoena  witnesses  or  administer 
oaths,  the  council  could  not  properly  try  the  case 
which  had  been  already  tried,  but  it  conducted  a 
public  inquiry  with  a  freedom  which  is  impossible 
in  a  court  of  law,  and  by  its  formal  resolutions 
declared  that  "  we  hold  the  pastor  of  this  church, 
as  we  and  all  others  are  bound  to  hold  him,  inno- 
cent of  the  charges  reported  against  him,  until  sub- 
stantiated by  proof."  The  closing  addresses  of 
Dr.  J.  W.  Wellman  of  Massachusetts,  Dr.  J.  M. 
Sturtevant,  the  president  of  Illinois  College,  and 
Dr.  Noah  Porter,  the  president  of  Yale  CoUege, 
assured  him  and  the  church  of  the  unabated  con- 
fidence of  the  council,  and  of  the  churches  which  it 
represented.  This  judgment  has  since  been  affirmed 
by  the  spontaneous  expressions  of  Mr.  Beecher's 


UNDER  ACCUSATION  297 

fellow  citizens  in  the  city  which  he  made  his  home 
for  forty  years  ;  and  by  the  verdict  of  the  larger 
community  at  home  and  abroad,  to  whose  sponta- 
neous expressions  of  confidence  and  esteem  I  shall 
presently  have  occasion  to  refer. 

To  those  who  believe  in  Christ's  declaration  that 
the  religious  teacher  is  to  be  known  by  the  fruits 
of  his  work,  the  spiritual  results  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
ministry  during  the  years  in  which  his  enemies  were 
continuing  their  frankly  avowed  endeavors  to  drive 
him  in  disgrace  from  his  pulpit,  his  city,  and  the 
editorial  chair,  will  serve  as  an  even  more  conclu- 
sive evidence  of  Mr.  Beecher's  character  than  the 
judgment  of  his  church,  the  churches  of  his  de- 
nomination, and  the  spontaneous  and  unofficial 
verdict  of  his  fellow  citizens.  The  statistics  of 
Plymouth  Church  during  this  time  show  in  the 
number  of  dismissions  no  indication  of  suspicion, 
distrust,  or  dissatisfaction  in  Plymouth  Church ; 
in  the  number  of  admissions  by  letter  no  indication 
of  lessened  confidence  on  the  part  of  other  Chris- 
tian churches  ;  and  in  the  number  of  those  received 
on  confession  of  their  faith  no  diminution  in  the 
number  of  those  converted  to  Christ  through  the 
ministry  of  the  church  and  of  its  pastor.^    Num- 

^  The  following  table  shows  admissions  and  dismissions  for  the 
four  years  prior 


Admissions 

Tears 

By  Letter 

On  Confession 

Dismissions 

1872 

62.. 

135 

60 

1873 

, 126.. 

82 

59 

1874 

53.. 

121 

34 

1875 

70.. 

106 

49 

298  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

bers  alone  are  not  significant  of  spiritual  values. 
That  during  these  four  years,  1872-75,  Mr.  Beech- 
er's  congregation  remained  undiminished  and  the 
membership  of  the  church  was  sensibly  increased, 
might  perhaps  be  attributed  to  his  oratorical 
gifts ;  that  his  church  sustained  him  with  almost 
absolute  mianimity  might  be,  and  by  his  critics 
was,  attributed  to  his  magnetic  personality.  But 
neither  Mr.  Beecher's  oratorical  gifts  nor  his  mag- 
netic personality  can  account  for  the  fact  that 
the  entire  work  of  the  church  proceeded  with  un- 
abated spiritual  vigor  as  witnessed  by  its  Sunday- 
schools,  its  prayer-meetings,  its  varied  philan- 
thropic and  Christian  work,  the  character  and  life 
of  its  members,  and  the  permanence  and  efficiency 
of  the  church  which  survived  him. 

To  this  plain  statement  of  the  wholly  uncontra- 
dicted and  unquestioned  facts  in  this  case,  it  may 
not  be  improper  for  me  to  add  an  expression  of  my 
own  personal  opinion.  I  had  some  special  advan- 
tages for  forming  one.  I  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  both  Mr.  Tilton  and  Mr.  Beecher.  More  than 
a  year  before  the  Cleveland  letter  I  had  ventured 
to  warn  Mr.  Beecher  that  Mr.  Tilton  was  not  the 
friend  Mr.  Beecher  thought  him  to  be.  I  was  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  the  incidents  which  led  to 
his  withdrawal  from  "  The  Independent "  and  his 
subsequent  founding  of  "  The  Christian  Union." 
My  brother,  Austin  Abbott,  was  one  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  counsel  in  the  trial,  and  I  had  special 
facilities  for  a  careful  study  of  the  evidence  in  the 


UNDER  ACCUSATION  299 

case,  and  certain  editorial  duties  made  such  study 
a  necessity.  In  the  advisory  council  subsequently 
held  I  was  an  active  member,  and  my  duties  as 
chairman  of  its  business  committee  made  my  con- 
stant attendance  at  all  its  sessions,  both  public  and 
private,  my  duty.  There  was  no  proof  at  any  time 
of  any  act  of  imjiropriety  on  Mr.  Beecher's  part 
toward  Mrs.  Tilton  or  toward  any  other  woman,  — 
nothing  that  could  be  called  even  an  "indiscre- 
tion." His  only  indiscretion  was  in  allowing  him- 
self to  be  on  terms  of  comparative  intimacy  with 
men  who  were  unworthy  of  his  confidence,  and  in 
accepting  as  true,  without  inquiry  or  investigation, 
statements  which  a  man  of  more  practical  wisdom 
would  certainly  have  doubted,  if  he  did  not  in- 
stantly recognize  their  falsehood.  After  no  incon- 
siderable hesitation  I  have  given  to  this  story 
larger  space  than  its  real  importance  deserves, 
only  because  I  feared  lest  passing  it  by  with  mere 
scant  attention  would  be  misconstrued  by  some 
reader.  Personally  I  believe  that  future  history 
will  attach  as  little  emphasis  to  this  episode  in  the 
life  of  Mr.  Beecher  as  history  now  attaches  to  analo- 
gous imputations,  with  far  more  to  give  them  color, 
brought  against  John  Wesley  in  his  lifetime. 


CHAPTER  Xin 

LATER   MINISTRY 

In  order  to  give  a  connected  account  of  this  epi- 
sode in  the  life  of  Mr.  Beecher,  it  has  been  neces- 
sary to  interrupt  the  historical  continuity  of  the 
narrative.    To  that  narrative  I  now  return. 

The  Cleveland  letter  written  August  30,  1866, 
recommended  that  middle  way  which  was  the  path 
alike  of  national  honor  and  of  national  safety,  but 
in  what  was  then  the  condition  of  the  nation,  nei- 
ther of  the  two  political  parties  was  wilhng  to  take 
this  middle  way.  For  the  time  being  the  counsels 
of  such  men  as  Mr.  Beecher  —  for  he  by  no  means 
stood  alone  —  were  discarded.  The  nation  could 
learn  only  by  experience  the  political  lessons  which 
its  men  of  prophetic  mind  perceived  intuitively. 
Mr.  Beecher,  therefore,  wisely  withdrew  for  a 
time  from  the  more  active  participation  in  public 
affairs,  and  gave  himself  to  other  and  more  quiet 
labors.  During  the  decade  1866-76,  he  wi'ote  both 
"Norwood"  and  the  first  volume,  with  part  of 
the  second  volume,  of  the  "  Life  of  Christ."  These 
were  the  only  volumes  he  ever  wrote ;  his  other 
books  were  composed  of  casual  contributions  writ- 
ten originally  for  the  periodicals.  During  these  ten 
years   he   founded  "  The   Christian   Union,"  and 


LATER  MINISTRY  301 

in  1872-74  delivered  the  famous  "  Yale  Lectures 
on  Preacliing "  at  Yale  Theological  Seminary.^ 
This  editorial  and  literary  work  was  carried  on 
in  addition  to  his  regular  preaching,  his  frequent 
lecturing,  and  his  addresses  on  various  public 
occasions. 

In  the  faU  of  1872  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary 
of  the  organization  of  Plymouth  Church  and  Mr. 
Beecher's  installation  were  recognized  in  a  series 
of  meetings,  lasting  for  five  days,  and  known  in 
the  history  of  the  church  as  the  "  Silver  Wedding." 
These  .exercises  were  characterized  by  the  sim- 
plicity which  under  Mr.  Beecher's  administration 
had  become  a  second  nature  to  Plymouth  Church. 
Flowers  constituted  the  only  decoration  ;  the  music 
was  chiefly  congi'egational ;  only  one  address  that 
could  be  called  an  oration  was  delivered ;  this  was 
the  only  eulogy  ;  the  other  speeches,  if  speeches 
they  could  be  called,  were  informal,  conversational, 
reminiscent,  —  nearly  all  of  them  by  lay  members 
of  the  church.  The  week  might  be  described  in  a 
word  as  a  home  week. 

Many  absent  members  returned ;  others  sent 
letters  of  affectionate  remembrance ;  others,  who 
had  found  inspiration  in  Plymouth  Church,  though 
they  had  never  belonged  to  it,  came  to  testify  their 
affection  and  receive  new  gift  of  hfe.  If  the  ad- 
mission had  not  been  rigidly  confined  to  the  holders 
of  tickets,  even  Plymouth  Church  could  not  have 

1  See  chapters  xiv.,  "  Mr.  Beecher  as   Editor  and   Author," 
and  XV.,    "  The  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching." 


302  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

contained  the  crowd  which  would  have  thronged  it. 
Except  for  a  short  storm  on  Thursday  night,  the 
weather  was  fine.  The  keynote  of  the  week  was 
struck  at  the  first  meeting  by  Mr.  George  A.  Bell, 
the  successive  superintendent  of  its  three  Sabbath- 
schools,  in  the  sentence,  "  I  thank  Mr.  Beecher 
because  he  has  made  me  to  know  my  God  and  my 
Saviour."  The  programme  of  the  week  was  so 
arranged  as  to  include  the  whole  life  of  the  church. 
Monday  night  was  given  up  to  the  children.  Tues- 
day was  given  to  a  reunion  of  all  that  had  worked 
in  either  of  the  Plymouth  Sunday-schools  from 
their  organization.  Wednesday  was  the  laymen's 
day,  when  the  founders  of  the  church  made  state- 
ments concerning  its  origin,  its  history,  and  its  pro- 
gress. Thursday  evening  the  church  was  crowded 
to  its  utmost  capacity,  to  hear  two  addresses  —  one 
of  reminiscences  and  personal  experience,  by  Mr. 
Beecher,  reciting  the  history  of  this  church  "  as  it 
looks  to  me  from  my  own  standpoint ;  "  the  second, 
an  address  by  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs  on  "  Mr.  Beecher 
as  a  Preacher."  The  printed  page  preserves  the 
sympathetic  insight,  the  wise  analysis,  the  pictorial 
imagination,  the  iridescent  humor,  and  the  finished 
literary  form  of  Dr.  Storrs's  eulogy  ;  but  it  cannot 
indicate  the  powerful  personality  which  stood  be- 
hind the  words  and  uttered  itself  through  them.  Dr. 
Storrs's  simile  illustrating  Mr.  Beecher's  oratory 
is  equally  applicable  to  his  own  on  this  occasion : 
"  I  do  not  know,"  said  he,  "  very  much  about  Mr. 
Beecher's  preaching,  for  I  have  only  heard  him 


LATER  MINISTRY  303 

tliree  or  four  times ;  but  I  know  enough  to  recog- 
nize  the    difference    between    the    sermon    as   he 
preaches  it,  and  the  sermon  as  it  is  printed  and 
publir>hed  to  be  read  afterward  :  the  one  is  like  the  .       ^ 
fireworks  as  they  appear  at  night  in  all  their  bril-    'Y 
liance  and  glory,  the  other  is  like  the  blackened, 
smoking  framework  which  the  boys  stare  at  the! 
next  morning." 

But  more  sacred  and  moving  than  any  oratory 
were  the  morning  prayer-meetings,  and  the  Friday 
evening  communion  service,  conducted  as  nearly 
as  possible  in  the  spirit  of  a  Friday  evening 
prayer-meeting.  The  church  was  thronged  with  com- 
municants —  the  body,  the  side  aisles,  the  galleries. 
Throughout  the  week  Mr.  Beecher  contended 
against  an  inclination,  which  he  feared  rather  than 
perceived,  toward  hero-worship.  His  introduction 
to  the  communion  service  emphasized  his  desire. 
"  In  the  presence,"  said  he,  "  of  these  memorials,  let 
no  name  be  mentioned  except  that  one  which  is 
above  every  name  ; "  and  with  a  touch  almost  of 
sadness,  he  enforced  his  request :  "  If  I  have  taught 
you  to  look  to  any  other  one,  my  teaching  has  been 
worse  than  useless."  Then  followed  brief  words  of 
Christian  experience  from  laymen,  on  whom  he 
called  —  generous,  sincere,  glowing;  after  which 
the  communion  was  administered  to  twenty-five 
hundred  communicants  ;  and  by  a  few  brief  words 
from  Mr.  Beecher  the  thoughts  of  the  church  were 
turned  from  the  past  to  the  future,  and  the  ser- 
vices of  the  week  were  brought  to  a  close. 


304  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Despite  the  generous  contribution  of  a  hundred 
thonsand  dollars  by  Plymouth  Chr  'i,  presented 
in  \  le  form  of  an  increase  of  salary  during  the  year 
of  '^e  trial,  the  enormous  expenses  involved  left 
Mr.  Beecher  indebted.  Careless  as  he  was  in  the 
usG  of  money,  he  was  never  careless  about  his  pe- 
er iary  obligations.  As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  trial 
w  over  he  set  himself  to  work  to  raise  the  funds 
nec'-essary  to  meet  obligations  which  he  had  in- 
curred, and  the  easiest  and  simplest  way  to  do  this 
was  by  lecturing  throughout  the  country.  Doubt- 
less another  cause  combined  to  impel  him  to  this 
\y'  course.  He  believed  that  the  best  remedy  for  worry 
was  effective  work  ;  he  held  with  Dr.  Chalmers  to 
"  the  expulsive  power  of  a  new  affection."  The 
best  possible  way  to  erase  from  his  own  mind  and 
from  that  of  the  public,  who  had  been  fed  for  six 
months  with  newspaper  reports  of  the  trial,  was  to 
give  himself  to  a  national  ministry  through  the  lec- 
ture platform.  His  lecture  tours,  under  Major  J.  B. 
Pond's  direction,  and  for  the  most  part  in  com- 
panionship with  him,  extended  as  far  west  as  the 
Pacific  coast  and  as  far  south  as  Memphis.  These 
annual  lecture  tours  under  Major  Pond's  direction 
began  April  18,  1875.  From  that  time  until  Feb- 
ruary, 1887,  three  weeks  before  his  death,  Mr. 
Beecher  is  said  by  Major  Pond  to  have  traveled 
with  him  nearly  three  hundred  thousand  miles,  .and 
to  have  lectured  under  his  supervision  twelve  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one  times.  On  a  single  one  of  these 
tours  Mr.  Beecher  delivered  seventy-five  lectures, 


LATER  MINISTRY  305 

preached  sixteen  sermons,  and  traveled  sevente  ^n 
thousand  mi^  These  lecture  tours  gave  opf  ir- 
tunity  for  the  expression  of  public  confidence  in 
him,  and  of  this  opportunity  the  public.  East  j*  id 
West,  North  and  South,  availed  itself.  He  was 
rarely  in  any  town  over  Sunday  that  he  was  riDt 
invited  to  preach,  and  he  invariably  accepted  t^^^p 
invitation,  irrespective  of  the  denomination  whi^^v 
invited  him,  and  always  without  compensation,  if 
he  was  in  a  college  town,  he  was  customarily  in- 
vited to  address  the  students,  and,  if  other  engage- 
ments permitted,  he  accepted  the  invitation.  The 
warmth  of  the  reception  given  to  him  was  in  some 
places  as  unexpected  as  it  was  gratifying.  In  Mem- 
phis he  was  received,  when  he  arrived  in  the  city, 
with  a  salute  of  twenty-one  guns,  and,  as  there  was 
no  lecture-room  large  enough  to  hold  the  people, 
Agricultural  Hall  was  taken,  and  four  thousand 
seats  put  into  it. 

It  was  not  always  so,  however.  Political,  theo- 
logical, and  personal  prejudices  combined  sometimes 
in  bitter  opposition  to  him, — opposition  which  I 
believe  he  never  failed  to  overcome.  One  dramatic 
instance  illustrates  both  facts.  On  board  the 
sleeper  at  Baltimore  en  route  to  Richmond,  a  tele- 
gram was  put  into  Mr.  Pond's  hands  which  read 
as  follows  :  — 

Richmond,  Va.,  January  22,  1877. 
To  J.  B.  Pond,  Baltimore,  Md. 

No  use  coming.  Beecher  will  not  be  allowed  to  speak 
in  Richmond.    No  tickets  sold. 


306  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Mr.  Pond  put  the  telegram  into  his  pocket  and 
said  nothing  to  Mr.  Beecher.  On  arriving  in  Rich- 
mond the  warning  was  repeated.  The  local  agent 
abandoned  the  lecture.  Mr.  Pond  rented  the  the- 
atre, and  issued  bills  and  dodgers  announcing  that 
the  lecture  would  be  delivered.  When  the  evening 
came,  the  theatre  was  crowded  with  men ;  no 
women  were  present.  Mr.  Pond  was  advised  that 
''  the  gallery  is  full  of  eggs."  When  Mr.  Beecher 
rose  to  speak,  he  was  greeted  with  yells  from  the 
hostile  audience.  He  met  them  with  a  gfood- 
hmnored  jest  at  the  members  of  the  Virginia  legis- 
lature, who  were  present  in  large  numbers.  The 
rest  of  the  audience  joined  in  the  laugh  at  the 
legislature.  In  a  few  minutes  Mr.  Beecher  had  the 
crowd  mider  his  control.  At  the  close  an  informal 
reception  was  given  him  in  the  hotel,  and  he  was 
earnestly  urged  to  remain  and  lecture  a  second 
night,  that  the  women  might  come  to  hear  him. 

I  rarely  heard  Mr.  Beecher  lecture  ;  I  often 
heard  him  preach.  He  was  at  his  best  in  the  pulpit, 
next  on  the  rostrum,  last  on  the  lecture  platform. 
He  generally  wrote  his  lectures,  but  rarely  read 
them,  and  never  memorized  them.  Mr.  Pond  is  my 
authority  for  saying  that  he  never  delivered  the 
same  lecture  twice  in  the  same  way.  The  form  and 
structure  of  the  lecture  depended  largely  upon  the 
audience  to  which  it  was  to  be  addressed,  and  while 
the  substance  of  it  remained  unchanged,  the  illus- 
trations were  frequently  varied  from  evening  to 
evening.     Local   incidents  and  occasions   inspired 


LATER  MINISTRY  307 

sometimes  his  most  eloquent  passages,  as  in  his 
peroration  in  the  Richmond  lecture,  —  a  tribute  to 
the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia,  the  mother  of 
Presidents,  and  his  forecast  of  the  noble  future 
which  lay  before  her.  Mr.  Beecher  could  not 
speak  without  imparting  some  information,  nor 
without  some  flash  of  humor,  but  he  never  lec- 
tured merely  for  the  purpose  of  entertaining  or 
instructing  his  audience.  His  lectures  were  all 
ethical  discourses :  any  one  of  them  might  have 
been  a  sermon ;  some  of  them  were.  One  of  the 
most  famous  of  his  lectures,  that  on  "  Evolution 
and  Religion,"  grew  out  of  a  sermon,  and  in  turn 
was  elaborated  into  a  course  of  eight  sermons  on 
that  subject,  subsequently  published  in  book  form. 
On  the  whole,  it  may  be  truly  said  that  his  lecture 
tours  constituted  a  form  of  religious  ministry,  ethi- 
cal and  social,  rather  than  spiritual  and  individual. 
Not  less  than  his  sermons,  however,  were  his  lec- 
tures inspired  by  the  purpose  to  interpret  and  apply 
the  principles  and  precepts  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  in- 
spire men  with  the  Christian  spirit.  In  popularity 
Mr.  Beecher  as  lecturer  stood  second  only  to  John 
B.  Gough,  in  inspirational  effect  second  to  no  one. 
Though  during  this  decade  the  political  ques- 
tions before  the  country  did  not  compare  in  either 
dramatic  interest  or  public  influence  with  those 
growing  out  of  slavery,  Mr.  Beecher  continued, 
though  in  lesser  measure,  to  discuss  before  the 
public  the  questions  which  from  time  to  time  arose. 
He  was  a  continuous  student  of  social  questions, 


308  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

and  continued  to  speak  upon  them.  He  advocated 
unsectarian  public  schools,  and  strenuously  opposed 
the  division  of  the  public  funds  between  the  Ko- 
man  Catholics  and  the  Protestants,  or  any  use  of 
public  funds  for  sectarian  schools  of  any  descrip- 
tion. He  advocated  the  Irish  cause,  speaking  on 
the  same  platform  with  John  Dillon  and  Charles 
Stewart  Parnell,  and  urging  the  policy,  now  at  last 
adopted  by  the  English  government,  of  making 
the  tenant  population  of  Ireland  land-owners.  He 
vigorously  antagonized  the  exclusion  of  the  Chinese 
from  our  coasts,  saying,  whimsically,  that  when  the 
camel  eats  palm,  the  camel  does  not  become  palm, 
but  the  palm  becomes  camel.  He  opposed  prohibi- 
tion as  "an  absolute  impossibility,"  and  advocated 
high  license.  I  do  not  know  that  either  local  option 
or  the  dispensary  system  had  become  a  public  ques- 
tion in  his  time,  or,  if  so,  that  he  ever  expressed 
himself  definitely  upon  them.  He  urged  civil-ser- 
vice reform,  and  opposed  the  free  coinage  of  silver. 
He  faced  with  his  usual  courage  anti- Jewish  preju- 
dice, of  which  there  was  in  1881  a  special  ebulli- 
tion, and  preached  a  sermon  on  the  subject  of  such 
interest  that  the  substance  of  it  was  cabled  across 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  "  Pall  Mall  Gazette  "  declared 
of  it  that, it  would  excite,  especially  in  Germany, 
"  much  more  interest  than  a  presidential  mes- 
sage." He  spoke  and  wrote,  in  j)residential  elec- 
tions, for  Grant,  for  Hayes,  and  for  Cleveland  ;  and 
on  different  occasions  for  the  redemption  of  the 
ballot-box,  for  the  Sunday  opening  of  libraries,  for 


LATER  MINISTRY  309 

woman  suffrage,  for  popular  amusements,  for  the 
enforcement  of  excise  legislation,  at  public  dinners 
to  Professor  Tyndall  and  to  Herbert  Sj^encer,  and 
in  public  tributes  to  Dr.  Livingstone  and  to  Mat- 
thew Arnold. 

His  advocacy,  by  pen  and  on  the  forum,  of  the 
election  of  President  Cleveland  caused  a  surprise 
which  the  historian  cannot  but  declare  to  have 
been  extraordinarily  unreasonable.  Mr.  Beecher 
was  always  and  by  nature  an  independent ;  he  be- 
longed to  no  party,  and  was  the  advocate  of  none. 
He  sjDoke  on  abolition  platforms  against  some  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  abolitionists ;  he 
spoke  on  Republican  platforms  against  some  of  the 
fundamental  princij^les  of  the  Republicans ;  he 
preached  an  evangelical  faith  to  Unitarian  congre- 
gations ;  and  he  would  have  been  glad  to  preach 
a  Christian  faith  in  a  Jewish  pulpit,  or  a  Protest- 
ant faith  in  a  Roman  Catholic  pulpit,  if  the  op- 
portunity had  been  offered  to  him.  Politically,  he 
was  an  individualist,  if  not  by  inheritance,  cer- 
tainly by  training.  His  ten  years  of  anti-slavery 
campaigning  had  emphasized  his  belief  in  the  lib- 
erty of  the  individual,  his  desire  to  promote  that 
liberty,  and  his  belief  that  the  individual  shoidd 
be  left  unhandicajDped,  to  pursue  in  his  own  way 
his  own  chosen  path  in  life.  Economically,  he  be- 
longed with  the  Manchester  school,  though,  mor- 
ally, he  repudiated  the  idea  that  social  order  can 
ever  emerge  from  a  mere  conflict  of  selfish  inter- 
ests.    Protection    is    essentially   socialistic    in    its 


310  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

nature.  It  assumes  that  the  nation  is  not  merely 
a  collection  of  individuals  ;  that  it  has  an  interest 
apart  from  the  interests  of  the  individuals  who 
compose  it ;  that  it  may  rightfully  adopt  a  policy 
which  will  promote  the  interests  of  the  whole, 
although  it  may  interfere  with  the  liberties  or  im- 
pair the  interests  of  some.  What  measure  of  truth 
there  is  m  this  socialistic  philosophy,  toward  which 
in  many  ways  American  society  is  now  turning,  it 
is  not  necessary  for  me  here  to  inquire.  Mr.  Beecher 
did  not  believe  in  it.  He  was,  therefore,  necessarily 
and  on  principle,  a  free-trader.  He  had  avowed 
himself  so,  explicitly  and  emphatically,  in  his  Eng- 
lish speeches ;  he  had  repeated  that  avowal,  again 
and  again,  on  Republican  platforms ;  he  had  re- 
sisted within  the  Republican  party  the  growth  of 
the  high  protective  principle.  When,  as  candidate 
for  governor  of  the  state,  Mr.  Cleveland  ran 
against  Governor  Folger,  Mr.  Beecher  supported 
Mr.  Cleveland.  When,  therefore,  in  1884,  the  is- 
sue was  clearly  and  sharply  made  in  the  first  Blaine 
and  Cleveland  campaign,  Mr.  Beecher  had  no  option 
but  either  to  keep  silent  or  to  advocate  the  election 
of  Mr.  Cleveland.  Mr.  Cleveland  stood  for  civil- 
service  reform,  Mr.  Blaine  for  machine  politics ; 
Mr.  Cleveland  stood  for  a  tariff  for  revenue  only, 
Mr.  Blaine  for  a  high  protective  system.  Any  one 
who  knew  Mr.  Beecher  should  have  known  that,  if 
he  had  to  choose  between  the  party  he  had  asso- 
ciated with  and  the  principles  which  he  held  sacred, 
he  would  always  leave  the  party  for  the  sake  of  the 


LATER   MINISTRY  311 

principles.  This  he  did.  His  doing  so  cost  him 
some  warm  friendships.  All  this  he  foresaw.  He 
hesitated  for  weeks  before  he  formed  the  final  de- 
cision. I  speak  in  this  matter  of  what  I  know,  for 
at  his  request  I  went  wp  to  Peekskill  to  counsel 
with  him  on  the  subject.  He  made  careful  inqui- 
ries respecting  the  rumors  prejudicial  to  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's character  before  he  espoused  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's election,  and  he  satisfied  himself  that,  what- 
ever color  of  truth  they  might  have  had  m  the  past, 
they  were  absolutely  untrue  as  respected  Mr.  Cleve- 
land's character  in  1884.  The  unwise  recommen- 
dations of  some  friends,  who  ought  to  have  known 
him  better,  and  who  urged  him  not  to  become  an 
advocate  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  election  because  he 
could  not  afford  to  do  so,  were  perhaps  the  final 
determining  element  in  the  formation  of  his  de- 
cision. Nothmg  was  more  likely  to  lead  Mr. 
Beecher  into  battle  than  such  a  warning,  that  it 
would  be  perilous  to  himself.  It  is  not  necessary 
here  to  rehearse  the  arguments  which  Mr.  Beecher 
presented  in  support  of  free  trade ;  it  must  suffice 
to  say  that  they  were  mainly  moral,  not  economic. 
He  held  that  whatever  seeming  prosperity  the  pro- 
tective tariff  conferred  on  one  class  involved  the 
real  detriment  of  another  class,  that  it  was  essen- 
tially a  selfish  policy,  and  he  opposed  it  "  as  not 
only  impolitic,  but  unjust  and  morally  wrong." 

Li  the  decade  wliich  we  are  considering:  Mr. 
Beecher's  first  work  was,  as  it  had  been  in  the 
past,  as  a  preacher  and  in   his  own  church.    But 


312  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

his  preaching  underwent  a  noticeable  change.    It 

became  more  intellectual  and  philosophical.    It  was 

addressed  less  to  the  will  and  more  to  the  reason. 

'  Mr.   Beecher's  preaching  ma^_be    approximately 

^'  divided  into  three  epochs.  In  the  first  it  is  largely 
pictorial,  imaginative,  emotional.  This  preaching 
is  typified  by  the  "  Lectures  to  Young  Men."  In 
the  second  epoch,  the  emotions  and  the  imagina- 
tion have  been  brought  into  subjection ;  the  style 
is  less  exuberant ;  the  pictures  are  not  less  vivid, 
but  they  are  less  numerous;  they  do  not  follow 
one  another  in  such  kaleidoscopic  succession ;  the 
emotion  is  spiritualized,  —  it  is  deeper,  devouter, 
stronger,  —  not  less  impassioned,  but  under  better 
control ;  the  whole  sermon  converges  on  one  truth  ; 
preaching  has  become  a  battle,  in  which  all  the 
resources  of  the  commanding  general  are  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  one  pivotal  point  in  the  field,  and 
reason,  imagination,  emotion  combine  to  cai'ry  away 
the  hearer,  capturing  his  will,  and  bringing  him 
into  subjection  to  a  new  purpose,  and  obedient  to  a 
new  law  of  life.  Of  this  epoch  the  Harpers'  edi- 
tion of  sermons  selected  from  those  preached  in 
the  years  1860-68  afford  the  best  illustration. 
In  the  third  epoch  Mr.  Beecher  is  a  teacher.  The 
sermons  are  expositions ;  he  is  an  interpreter  of 
faith ;  he  is  attempting  to  show  men  that  the  spir- 
itual experience,  into  which  he  has  before  been 
endeavoring  to  carry  them  by  all  the  forces  of  his 
nature,  is  an  experience  consistent  with  the  highest 

\  exercise  of  the  reason ;  he  preaches  less  for  con- 


LATER  MINISTRY  313 

version,  and  more  for  instruction  and  edification. 
Of  this  type  of  preaching  his  eight  sermons  on 
"  Evolution  and  Religion  "  are  the  most  striking 
illustration.!  The  later  change  was  intentioned ;  it 
was  a  deliberate  adaptation  of  his  preaching  to 
new  conditions.  In  the  second  of  his  sermons  on 
"  Evolution  and  Religion "  he  thus  defines  his 
purpose :  — 

The  last  years  of  my  life  I  dedicate  to  this  work  of 
religion,  to  this  purpose  of  God,  to  this  development,  on 
a  grander  scale,  of  my  Lord  and  Master  Jesus  Christ. 
I  believe  in  God.  I  believe  in  immortality.  I  believe  in 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  incarnated  representative  of  the 
spirit  of  God.  I  beheve  in  all  the  essential  truths  that 
go  to  make  up  morality  and  spiritual  religion.  I  am  nei- 
ther an  infidel,  nor  an  agnostic,  nor  an  atheist ;  but  if  I 
am  anything,  by  the  grace  of  God  I  am  a  lover  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  the  manifestation  of  God  under  the  limita- 
tions of  space  and  matter ;  and  in  no  part  of  my  life 
has  my  ministry  seemed  to  me  so  solemn,  so  earnest,  so 
fruitful,  as  this  last  decade  will  seem,  if  I  shall  succeed 
in  uncovering  to  the  faith  of  this  people  the  great  truths 
of  the  two  revelations  —  God's  building  revelation  of 
the  material  globe,  and  God's  building  revelation  in  the 
unfolding  of  the  human  mind.  May  God  direct  me  in 
your  instruction  ! 

To  understand  the  significance  of  this  decision 

1  Evolution  and  Religion :  Part  i.  Eight  sermons  discussing- 
the  bearings  of  the  evolutionary  philosophy  on  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  evangelical  Christianity.  Part  ii.  Eighteen  sermons 
discussing  the  application  of  the  evolutionary  principles  and  theo- 
ries to  the  practical  aspects  of  religious  life.  Fords,  Howard 
&Hulbert.   1885. 


1 


314  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

and  the  value  of  his  service  in  its  execution,  the 
reader  must  conceive  the  conditions  out  of  which 
it  grew.  Darwin's  "  Origin  of  Species  "  was  pub- 
lished in  1859,  Herbert  Spencer's  "  First  Princi- 
ples," in  sections,  in  1860-62.  Translated  into 
common  language  for  the  common  people,  through 
innumerable  editorials  and  magazine  articles,  and 
rapidly  finding  their  way  into  academic  instruction 
in  all  the  higher  institutions  of  learning,  they  be- 
gan to  give  currency  to  the  notion  of  evolution  in 
many  circles  where  its  fundamental  principle  was 
not  in  the  least  comprehended.  From  the  first  this 
doctrine  of  evolution  was  generally  regarded  by  the 
churches  as  an  attack  on  religion  ;  and  not  unnat- 
urally, since  it  denied  two  fundamental  articles  of 
the  Puritan,  if  not  of  the  Protestant  creed,  —  the 
Fall  of  Adam  and  the  inerrancy  of  the  Bible. 

The  whole  Puritan  system  of  theology  had  been 
built  upon  the  Fall  of  Adam.  Its  first  article  was 
the  Total  Depravity  of  the  human  race.  On  this 
was  supposed  to  be  founded  the  necessity  for  re- 
velation, as  a  divine  disclosure  to  fallen  man  of 
truths  required  for  his  salvation,  which,  owing  to 
his  Fall,  he  could  not  otherwise  know  ;  for  redemp- 
tion by  a  sacrificial  atonement,  rendered  necessary  to 
purge  away  his  sins  and  succor  him  from  the  de- 
served wrath  of  God,  on  account  of  the  Fall ;  and  for 
a  new  birth,  necessary  to  recover  man  from  the  death 
in  which  he  was  involved  by  the  sin  of  Adam,  and 
from  which  he  could  be  recovered  only  by  a  new 
creative  act.    The  doctrine  of   evolution   affirmed 


LATER  MINISTRY  315 

that  man  had  come  from  a  lower  animal  order  ;  it 
denied  that  man  was  made  perfect  and  had  fallen 
from  a  higher  to  a  lower  estate  ;  it  therefore  seemed 
to  deny  the  doctrines  of  revelation,  redemption, 
and  regeneration.  It  was  regarded  by  substantially 
the  whole  Christian  Church  as  subversive  of  the 
entire  system  of  evangelical  faith.  At  the  same 
time,  and  as  a  necessary  consequence,  evolution 
denied  a  second  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Puri- 
tan and  later  Protestant  creed,  —  that  the  Bible  is 
infallible  and  inerrant.  Protestants,  refusing  the 
authority  of  the  Church,  had,  partly  for  polemical 
reasons,  substituted  therefor  the  authority  of  the 
Bible.  Evolution  treated  the  Genesis  story  of  the 
FaU  as  a  fable ;  it  therefore  denied  the  inerrancy 
of  the  Bible,  denied  its  absolute  and  binding 
authority,  and  seemed  to  destroy  the  foundation 
on  which  the  whole  Protestant  superstructure  was 
reared.  We  can  now  see  clearly,  what  our  fathers 
did  not  see,  that  evangelical  faith  is  not  depend- 
ent on  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall  oi  Adam,  and 
that  Protestantism  is  not  dependent  on  the  iner- 
rancy of  the  Bible.  The  Fall  of  Adam  is  narrated 
in  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis.  It  is  not  again 
referred  to  in  the  Old  Testament,  nor  in  the  New 
Testament,  except  parenthetically  by  the  Apostle 
Paul.  In  the  one  chapter  where  the  Apostle  Paid 
treats  of  the  nature  and  origin  of  sin,  the  seventh 
chapter  of  Romans,  he  represents  it  as  an  emer- 
gence of  the  flesh  against  the  spirit,  a  representa- 
tion quite  in  harmony  with  the  scientific  doctrine 


316  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

of  evolution.  The  doctrine  of  Adam's  Fall  occupies 
no  such  fundamental  position  in  the  Bible  as  it  oc- 
cupies in  the  Puritan  creeds.  It  is  equally  clear 
that  the  later  Protestantism  had  claimed  for  the 
Bible  an  authority  which  the  Bible  never  claims  for 
itself  and  which  the  earlier  Reformers  did  not  claim 
for  it,  much  as  Roman  Catholicism  had  claimed 
for  the  Church  an  authority  which  neither  the  Jew- 
ish Church  nor  the  primitive  Christian  Church 
ever  claimed  for  itseK.  We  can  see  that  the  frank 
recognition  of  the  Bible  as  the  record  of  a  progress- 
ive revelation  —  a  book  in  its  successive  stages  issu- 
ing from  the  spiritual  experience  of  the  epoch  and 
adapted  to  that  experience  —  recommends  it  to  ra- 
tional faith  and  removes  insuperable  difficulties  pre- 
sented by  the  conception  of  it  as  an  inerrant  and 
infallible  record  of  truth  divinely  dictated  to  hu- 
man amanuenses.  But  it  is  not  strange  that,  when 
the  doctrine  of  evolution  was  first  expounded, 
mainly  by  men  of  unecclesiastical,  if  not  anti-eccle- 
siastical sympathies,  it  was  regarded  as  subversive 
both  of  evangelical  faith  and  of  regard  for  the 
Bible  as  a  revelation  of  truth.  It  is  not  strange 
that  it  should  even  now  be  so  regarded  by  those 
who  have  never  studied  evolution,  and  do  not  know 
what  it  really  means,  and  who  have  never  gone  be- 
hind the  creeds  of  Christendom  to  the  Bible,  from 
which  those  creeds  are  supposed  to  have  been 
drawn,  to  ascertain  whether  the  creeds  state  the 
truths  of  religion  as  the  Bible  states  them,  and  in 
the  relations  in  which  the  Bible  states  them. 


LATER  MINISTRY  317 

Mr.  Beecher  was  one  of  the  first  ministers  in  the 
Christian  Church,  if  not  the  very  first  m  this  coun- 
try, to  advocate  the  doctrine  of  evolution  as  a  doc- 
trine which,  so  far  from  being  inimical  to  the  cause 
of  Christ,  was  certain  to  prove  its  friend  and  sup- 
porter. The  first  reference  in  Mr.  Beecher's  pub- 
lic teaching  which  I  have  been  able  to  find,  that 
indicates  an  acceptance  or  an  inclination  to  accept 
the  doctrine  of  evolution,  was  an  incidental  refer- 
ence in  a  Sunday  morning  sermon,  March  11, 
1860  :  "  What  word  did  Adam  ever  speak  or  what 
manly  thing  did  he  ever  perform,  before  or  after 
the  !Fall,  that  was  thought  worthy  of  record  ?  He 
has  a  name  in  the  Bible  ;  that  is  all.  The  world 
has  come  uphill  every  single  step  from  the  day  of 
Adam  to  this."  But  it  was  not  until  nearly  twenty 
years  after  that  he  began  the  systematic  advocacy 
of  evolution  as  an  interpretation  of  the  divine  or- 
der which  is  consistent  with  and  helpful  to  evan- 
gelical faith.  To  understand  what  this  advocacy 
meant,  the  reader  must  also  understand  what 
evangelical  faith,  as  Mr.  Beecher  apprehended  it, 
means. 

All  religion  recognizes  man's  obligation  to  God. 
It  was  a  distinctive  characteristic  of  the  Hebrew 
religion  that  it  also  recognized  God's  obligation  to 
man.  The  obligation  was  seen  by  the  Prophets  to 
be  mutual :  that  of  subjects  to  their  King,  but  also 
that  of  the  King  to  his  subjects ;  that  of  the  chil- 
dren to  their  Father,  also  that  of  the  Father  to  his 
children.     God  was  therefore   represented    in  the 


318  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

Old  Testament  as  a  covenant-keeping  God.  Cove- 
nant is  mutual  and  involves  mutual  obligations. 
This  doctrine  of  the  obligation  of  God  to  men  re- 
appears m  the  New  Testament  as  a  gospel.  Law 
represents  what  men  owe  to  God  ;  the  Gospel  re- 
presents what  God  will  do  for  men.  The  first  de- 
clares what  he  requires  of  them ;  the  second,  what 
service  he  will  render  to  them.  An  evangelical 
preacher  is  one  who  lays  stress  on  this  service 
which  God  renders  to  man,  and  on  man's  conse- 
quent hope  in  God.  Mr.  Beecher  was  throughout 
his  life,  in  this  sense,  an  evangelical  preacher.  He 
laid  stress  on  duty  and  righteousness,  but  he  laid 
far  more  stress  on  faith  and  hope  and  love  —  faith 
as  a  personal  consciousness  of  God  ;  hope  as  an  as- 
surance of  the  future  because  of  God ;  and  love  as 
an  inspiration  to  life  because  of  the  soul's  recogni- 
tion of  God's  love.  The  object  of  Mr.  Beecher  in  the 
sermons  on  "  Evolution  and  Religion,"  and  largely 
in  the  preaching  of  the  later  years  of  his  life,  of 
which  these  sermons  furnish  an  illustration,  was  to 
show  that  evolution,  as  an  interpretation  of  God's 
way  of  working  in  the  world,  is  not  only  consist- 
ent with  this  gospel  of  God's  helpfulness  but  gives 
to  it  a  richer  and  better  interpretation. 

Do  you  suppose  that  now,  after  fifty  years  in  the 
Christian  ministry,  I  could  attend  the  funeral  of  religion 
cheerfully  and  joyfully,  with  every  hereditary  necessity 
on  me,  with  tlie  whole  education  of  my  youth,  with  all 
my  associations,  all  the  endearments  of  my  past  life  in 
my  memory,  and  with  vivid  and  living  sympathy  with 


LATER  MINISTRY  319 

men,  —  do  you  suppose  that  I  could  stand  here  to  advo- 
cate any  truth  that  would  destroy  the  substance,  or  in 
any  degree  materially  injure  even  the  forms  of  religion  ? 
I  would  die  sooner  !  Do  you  suppose,  from  my  nature 
and  my  whole  example,  I  could  go  into  the  course  of 
sermons  that  I  have  preached,  and  into  the  course  of 
sermons  that,  God  willing,  I  will  preach  yet,  for  any 
other  reason  than  that  I  believe  that  the  new  view  is  to 
give  to  religion  a  power  and  a  scope  and  a  character 
such  as  has  never  yet  been  taken  and  known  in  the 
world  at  large  ?  Better  men  than  some  have  been,  I 
suppose,  will  never  be  born  ;  better  lives  than  certain 
single  lives  will  never  appear  over  the  horizon  of  time  ; 
but  that  which  I  look  for  is  the  change  of  the  human 
race.  I  am  not  thinking  of  men,  but  of  mankind.  I  am 
not  in  sympathy  alone  with  the  Church,  but  with  the 
whole  human  family.  And  my  longing,  as  it  has  been 
for  years,  is  for  such  teaching  and  such  pliilosoi3hies 
as  shall  lead  the  whole  human  race  to  a  higher  and  a 
nobler  condition.  -> 

This  paragraph  interprets  the  object  and  illus- 
trates the  spirit  of  the  entire  series  :  that  spirit 
is  a  broader  and  profounder  faith  because  Mr. 
Beecher  has  come  to  understand  evolution ;  that 
purpose  is  to  give  this  broader  and  profounder 
faith  to  others.  He  frankly  admits  that  evolution 
has  "  revolutionized  my  educational  beliefs,  but  it 
has  revolutionized  those  beliefs  only  to  make  them 
more  spiritual,  more  hopeful,  more  full  of  the 
divine  life."  He  has  no  tendency  to  rationalism : 
he  reaffirms  his  belief  in  the  miracles,  and  in  the 
doctrine  of  divine  design  and  of  a  superintending 


320  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

and  personal  Providence.  He  is  not  a  Universal- 
ist :  lie  repudiates  with  intense  abhorrence  the 
doctrine  of  endless  punishment,  but  he  does  not 
affirm  the  doctrine  of  universal  restoration  ;  ''  ana- 
logy would  suggest  that  unfit  men  have  run  their 
career  and  perished."  He  is  not  a  Unitarian :  he 
reaffirms  his  acceptance  of  the  Trinity,  as  the  best 
hypothetical  explanation  to  account  for  the  teach- 
ings of  Christian  Church  history  and  human  expe- 
rience, and  his  undiminished  faith  in  Christ  as 
"  the  one  fit  manifestation  of  God,  so  far  as  he 
could  be  made  known  to  human  intelligence."  He 
repudiates  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall,  but  reaffirms 
in  the  strongest  language  his  belief  in  the  reality 
and  universality  of  sinfulness,  and  in  the  necessity 
of  repentance  and  that  new  birth  which  is  the  be- 
ginning of  the  new  spiritual  life.  In  his  lectures 
on  "  Bible  Studies,"  given  on  Sunday  evenings 
during  the  autumn,  winter,  and  spring  of  1878- 
79,  he  had  anticipated  much  of  the  modern  criti- 
cism, though  he  had  done  so,  not  in  a  scholastic 
discussion  of  theories,  but  in  a  practical  use  of 
the  Old  Testament  narratives.  In  his  sermons  on 
"  Evolution  and  Religion  "  he  repudiates  the  doc- 
trine of  the  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
Bible,  and  with  it  the  doctrine  that  the  Bible  is 
inerrant  and  infallible,  and  substitutes  therefor 
the  doctrine  of  the  Bible  as  "  the  record  of  the 
gradual  and  progressive  unfolding  of  human  know- 
ledge in  respect  to  social  and  spiritual  things 
through  vast  periods  of  time."    At  the  same  time 


LATER  MINISTRY  321 

he  declares  his  reverence  for  the  Bible  as  "  the 
book  which  has  reached  the  highest  conception  of 
God  yet  attained  by  human  consciousness  ;  "  a  book 
which  "  gives  the  only  grand  ideal  of  manhood 
known  to  literature ; "  a  "  living  book "  with 
*'  power  of  inspiring  men  with  the  noblest  desires  ;  " 
a  "  book  that  creates  life." 

There  is  nothing  in  these  views  which  to  the 
modern  reader  will  seem  radical  or  revolutionary. 
In  the  score  of  years  which  have  elapsed  since 
these  sermons  were  preached,  evolution  has  won 
for  itself  universal  recognition.  Practically  all 
scientists  are  now  evolutionists ;  all  collegiate  in- 
struction in  every  department  is  based  on  the 
assumption  of  the  fundamental  truth  of  evolution 
as  the  law  of  life  and  progress  ;  and  the  great  ma- 
jority of  ministers  and  theologians  either  frankly 
accept  it  or  silently  acquiesce  in  it.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary here  to  revive  the  bitterness  of  those  years 
and  repeat  the  vilification  and  abuse  to  which 
Mr.  Beecher  was  subjected  for  the  crime  of  being 
in  advance  of  the  churches  of  his  time.  This  abuse, 
however,  led  to  one  significant  act  on  his  part  . 
which  has  sometimes  been  misinterpreted.  Criti-^^ 
cism  of  his  theological  views,  coming  from  some  of 
his  brethren  in  the  Congregational  ministry,  and 
especially  in  the  local  association  to  which  he  be- 
longed, led  him  in  October,  1882,  to  withdraw 
from  its  membership,  solely  because  he  did  not  wish 
that  other  members  should  be  embarrassed  by  any 
supposition  that  they  indorsed  or  were  responsible 


322  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

for  his  at  that  time  unpopular  opinions.  He  did 
not,  however,  become  an  independent.  He  re- 
mained to  the  day  of  his  death  a  CongregationaHst 
in  good  standing,  always  continuing  his  member- 
ship in  the  state  association,  and  always  retain- 
ing his  fellowship  with  the  ministers  and  churches 
of  the  Congregational  faith  and  order.  He  took 
the  occasion  of  his  withdrawal  from  the  local  asso- 
ciation to  restate  his  evangelical  faith.  This  state- 
ment, made  with  his  customary  frankness,  to  his 
own  brethren  in  the  ministry,  was  taken  down  by 
a  shorthand  reporter.^  It  is  the  fullest  as  it  is  the 
latest  statement  of  Mr.  Beecher's  theological  views, 
nor  do  I  know  any  reason  to  think  that  he  subse- 
quently departed  in  any  important  respect  from 
these  views. 

Neither  the  Sunday  evening  lectures  on  the  Old 
Testament  nor  the  Sunday  morning  sermons  on 
"  Evolution  and  Religion  "  are  a  mere  exposition 
of  critical  and  philosophical  theories.  In  both  series 
Mr.  Beecher  is  still  a  preacher,  not  a  lecturer. 
Other  volumes  of  a  later  date  by  other  authors  will 
give  to  the  reader  a  better  intellectual  conception 
of  modern  criticism  as  applied  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  of  the  philosophy  of  evolution  as  applied 
in  theological  science  ;  but  any  preacher  who  de- 
sires to  know  how  to  use  the  Old  Testament  for 
spiritual  ends,  while  holding  it  to  be  not  an  infalli- 
ble standard,  but  the  record  of  a  progressive  reve- 
lation, will  find  few  books  more  serviceable  to  his 

^  See  Appendix. 


LATER  MINISTRY  323 

purpose  than  Mr.  Beecher's  "  Bible  Studies  ;  "  and 
any  preacher  who  desires  to  know  how  to  use  the 
doctrine  of  evohition,  as  an  instrument  for  the  un- 
folding of  spiritual  truth  in  our  time  for  practical 
and  spiritual  ends,  will  find  few  if  any  volumes 
more  serviceable  for  his  purpose  than  the  one 
containing  Mr.  Beecher's  first  eight  sermons  on 
''  Evolution  and  Religion." 

If  any  one  asks  what  was  the  spiritual  effect  of 
this  teaching  as  compared  with  that  of  the  preced- 
ing epoch,  the  answer  must  be  twofold  :  First,  that 
Mr.  Beecher  did  not  suddenly  become  an  evolu- 
tionist. "  Slowly,"  he  says,  "  and  through  a  whole 
fifty  years  I  have  been  under  the  influence,  first 
obscurely,  indirectly,  of  the  great  doctrine  of  evolu- 
tion." The  doctrine  that  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
a  growth,  and  comes  not  with  observation,  under- 
lay all  his  preaching  ;  and  I  do  not  know  of  any 
pastor  of  the  last  half  of  the  last  century  whose 
preaching  was  accompanied  with  greater  apparent 
spiritual  results  in  accessions  to  the  church  on  pro- 
fession of  faith  than  that  of  Mr.  Beecher.  In  the 
second  place,  although  in  the  later  decade  there 
were  no  such  great  revivals  as  that  of  1858,  when 
three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  were  added  to  the 
church  on  confession  of  their  faith,  most  of  them 
at  a  single  communion,  the  average  additions  to 
the  church  on  confession  of  faith  were,  with  that 
exception,  about  the  same  during  the  last  decade 
as  during  the  earlier  years,  though  they  were  un. 
accompanied  by  any  such  emotional  conditions  as 


324  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

accompanied  the  two  special  revivals  which  occurred 
during  the  first  ten  years  of  his  ministry. 

In  1881  Mr.  Beecher  severed  his  connection 
with  "  The  Christian  Union."  Writing  had  grown 
increasingly  distasteful  to  him.  Confinement  to 
the  desk  he  avoided.  His  editorial  relations  to 
"  The  Christian  Union  "  had  been  indeed  through- 
out all  my  connection  with  it,  that  is,  since  1876, 
somewhat  slight  and  constantly  lessening.  I  had 
hoped,  through  the  services  of  a  shorthand  writer, 
to  get  from  him,  in  conversation,  material  which 
would  serve  for  editorial  purpose ;  but  I  did  not 
to  any  considerable  extent  succeed.  He  was  always 
expecting  to  write  editorials,  but  almost  never  did. 
Occasionally  he  would  send  me  a  letter  while  on 
his  lecture  tours,  but  they  were  infrequent.  He 
left  the  suj)ervision  of  the  paper  wholly  in  my 
hands,  although  on  great  questions  I  constantly 
consulted  with  him.  His  ideas  found  their  way 
to  its  columns  through  the  inspiration  which  he 
afforded  both  to  me  and  to  others  of  the  staff, 
but  not  in  the  inimitable  form  in  which  he  would 
have  put  them.  His  name  and  mine  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  j)aper  as  joint  editors.  He  came  to  feel, 
as  I  did,  that  this  put  both  him  and  the  paper  in  a 
false  position,  giving  the  public  an  impression  that 
it  was  getting  what  really  he  was  not  furnishing. 
So  at  length,  in  1881,  he  sold  his  interest  in  the 
paper,  and  laid  down  his  editorial  work. 

His  lectiiring,  public  speaking,  and  preaching 
he  continued  with  unabated  vigor  to  the  end.    Few 


LATER  MINISTRY  •  325 

were  the  public  occasions  at  which  he  was  not  an 
honored  guest.  lie  was  invited  to  speak  at  foiu-  of 
the  six  New  England  dinners  in  the  city  of  Brook- 
lyn between  1880  and  1886,  an  honor  accorded  to 
no  other  man.  On  the  25th  of  Januar}^  1883,  a 
public  meeting  was  tendered  to  him  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  seventieth  birthday.  The  Academy  of 
Music  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity ;  and 
half  an  hour  before  the  exercises  commenced  the 
doors  had  to  be  closed.  A  great  throng  remained 
outside,  to  whom,  before  the  exercises  within  began, 
Mr.  Beecher  spoke  briefly.  Upon  the  stage  within 
were  many  of  the  most  eminent  clergymen  of 
Brooklyn  and  New  York ;  indeed,  it  would  be 
easier  to  make  a  list  of  those  who  were  absent  than 
of  those  who  were  present,  either  in  person  or  by 
letter.  The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  Judge 
Joseph  Neilson,  who  had  presided  at  the  trial  of 
Mr.  Beecher  in  the  same  city  eight  years  before. 
Addresses  of  eulogy  were  delivered  by  Dr.  Armi- 
tage  on  "  Mr.  Beecher  as  a  Man,"  Dr.  Robert  Coll- 
yer  on  "  Mr.  Beecher's  English  Campaign,"  Dr. 
Fulton  on  "  Mr.  Beecher  as  a  Christian,"  and  by 
the  Hon.  Seth  Low,  then  the  mayor  of  Brooklyn, 
on  "  Mr.  Beecher  as  a  Citizen ; "  and  letters  ex- 
pressive of  confidence  and  esteem  were  read  from 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  John  G.  Whittier,  George 
William  Curtis,  Wendell  Phillips,  Andrew  D. 
White,  Mark  Hoj^kins,  Senator  Henry  L.  Dawes 
of  Massachusetts,  General  W.  T.  Sherman,  White- 
law   Reid,    Professor   J.  D.   Dana,    ex-President 


326  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

Hayes,  and  others.  A  resolution  was  passed  by  a 
rising  vote  expressing  the  appreciation,  by  his  fel- 
low citizens  of  Brooklyn,  of  Mr.  Beecher  "  as  a 
religious  teacher,  a  public  citizen,  a  generous  neigh- 
bor and  friend,  and  a  man  who  by  the  integrity  of 
his  life  and  the  purity  of  his  character  has  van- 
quished misrepresentation  and  abuse,  corrected  and 
counteracted  misunderstanding,  and  converted  pub- 
lic alienation  into  personal  affection." 

So  passed  his  closing  years.  His  campaigning 
days  were  over.  To  the  end  there  were  those  who 
were  alienated  from  him  for  various  reasons :  some, 
because  in  the  battles  through  which  he  had  passed 
he  had  dealt  blows  which  left  scars  ;  some,  for 
ecclesiastical  reasons  which  will  seem  to  posterity, 
and  indeed  seem  even  now,  wholly  insignificant ; 
some,  because  his  theological  positions  subjected 
him  to  undeserved  religious  suspicion  ;  some,  be- 
cause his  political  independence  could  not  be  under- 
stood by  those  who  can  see  no  difference  between 
loyalty  to  party  and  loyalty  to  principles.  But  all 
these  combined  made  but  an  insignificant  minor- 
ity. He  was  in  Brooklyn  easily  its  most  distin- 
guished and  its  most  honored  citizen,  respected  by 
all,  revered  by  many,  loved  by  those  who  knew 
him  best,  his  church  devotedly  attached  to  him. 
To  the  end  he  retained  his  physical  and  his  intel- 
lectual force.  His  preaching  was  less  imaginative 
and  less  impassioned  than  in  the  earlier  years,  but 
it  was  never  more  vigorous.  Never  did  it  appeal 
so  effectively  to  men  of  large  minds.    His  winters 


LATER  MINISTRY  327 

were  given  to  work  with  a  vigor  which  few  men 
who  have  passed  seventy  could  parallel ;  his  sum- 
mers were  spent  in  the  new  home  which  he  had 
built  in  Peekskill,  and  in  which,  as  he  once  said 
to  me,  he  had  desired  to  express  himself  by  show- 
ing in  material  form  what  a  country  home  should 
be.  Before,  however,  I  come  to  speak  of  the  last 
scene  in  this  great  life,  I  must  devote  two  chapters 
to  certain  phases  of  his  life  work,  necessarily  passed 
by  in  this  history,  in  order  to  maintain  unbroken 
the  continuity  of  the  narrative. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

EDITOR    AND   AUTHOR 

In  this  chapter  I  propose  to  bring  together  some 
facts  illustrating  Mr.  Beecher's  character  and  work 
in  the  sphere  of  journalism  and  authorship,  such 
as  could  not  well  be  inserted  in  their  chronological 
order,  except  in  brief  reference,  without  interfering 
with  the  continuity  of  the  historical  narrative. 

Mr.  Beecher  began  editorial  work  before  he  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry.  He  acted  for  four  or  five 
months  as  editor  of  "  The  Cincinnati  Journal," 
while  he  was  still  a  student  in  Lane  Seminary. 
His  editorials  produced  such  an  impression  that 
they  were  copied  with  approval  by  "  The  Cincinnati 
Gazette,"  at  that  time  regarded  as  the  ablest  jour- 
nal west  of  the  Alleghanies.  In  Indianapolis  he 
edited  an  agricultural  department  in  "  The  Indiana 
Journal,"  as  a  sort  of  recreation  from  the  more 
serious  labors  of  his  ministry.  During  his  editor- 
ship "  The  Western  Farmer  and  Gardener,"  under 
which  title  the  agricultural  department  of  "  The  In- 
diana Journal  "  was  published -in  monthly  numbers, 
gained  a  national  reputation. 

This  editing  was  recreative  ;  real  vrriting  as  a 
serious  business  of  life,  he  did  not  enter  upon  to 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  329 

any  extent  until  after  he  came  to  Brooklyn  in  1847. 
"  The  Independent,"  whi(;h  was  started  the  follow- 
ing year,  was  a  Congregational  newspaper,  estab- 
lished for  the  maintenance  of  Puritan  doctrines  and 
principles  and  their  fearless  application  to  social 
problems,  especially  that  presented  by  slavery.  Of 
its  three  editors,  the  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  pas- 
tor of  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  in  New  York  City, 
had  especial  administrative  capacity ,i  and  was  prac- 
tically the  managing  editor  of  the  journal.  Mr. 
Beecher's  genius  was  soon  recognized  by  his  Congre- 
gational associates,  and  he  was  engaged  as  a  regular 
contributor.  He  was  too  independent  to  work  well 
in  harness ;  his  associates  preferred  that  he  should 
alone  be  responsible  for  his  utterances,  and  he  pre- 
ferred the  freedom  which  such  independence  con- 
ferred. His  methods  of  preparation  and  composition 
were  peculiar,  and  were  in  striking  contrast  to  those 
of  his  associate.  Dr.  Thompson.  Dr.  Thompson  had 
his  regular  day  at  the  office,  was  always  punctual, 
calculated  the  amount  of  matter  required,  rarely  if 
ever  gave  too  much  or  too  little,  and  his  copy  was 
the  delight  of  compositors.  Mr.  Beecher  came  into 
the  office  about  the  time  his  manuscript  was  ex- 
pected, sometimes  boihng  over  with  excitement, 
sometimes  bubbling  over-  with  humor,  talked  of 
anything  and  everything  but  the  business  before 
him,  finally  caught  up  his  pen,  turned  to  the  near- 
est desk,  shut  himself  up  in  his  shell,  impenetrable 
as  if  he  were  a  turtle,  drove  his  pen  across  the 
^  See  chapter  xii.  p.  288. 


330  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

paper  as  if  it  were  a  printing-machine  and  he  an 
electric  battery,  threw  off  the  pages  as  he  wrote 
them,  left  them  to  be  gathered  up  and  carried  by 
the  boy  to  the  compositors'  room,  and  trusted  a 
subordinate  to  read  proof,  correct  errors,  and  sup- 
ply omissions.  But  what  he  wrote  was  caught 
up  and  quoted  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the 
other.  In  effectiveness  of  utterance  Mr.  Beecher's 
leaders  in  "  The  Independent "  have  never  been 
surpassed  in  American  journalism.  Comparisons 
are  perilous,  but  I  think  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no 
Northern  journal,  except  perhaps  "  The  New  York 
Tribune"  and  "The  New  York  Evening  Post," 
exerted  so  powerful  an  influence  in  creating  and 
guiding  public  opinion  during  the  ten  years  which 
preceded  the  Civil  War  as  did  "  The  New  York 
Independent." 

At  the  close  of  this  epoch,  and  just  on  the  eve 
of  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  the  Congrega- 
tional triumvirate  resigned  and  Mr.  Beecher  be- 
came editor-in-chief  of  "  The  Independent."  In  the 
issue  of  December  19, 1861,  appears  his  salutatory. 
It  is  brief.  In  it  he  declares  that  the  change  of 
editorship  does  not  involve  any  change  in  the  prin- 
ciples, purpose,  or  general  spirit  of  the  paper, 
which  will  continue  "  firmly  to  hold  and  to  teach 
those  great  cardinal  doctrines  of  rehgion  that  are 
substantially  held  in  common  by  the  Congregational 
orthodox  churches  of  New  England  and  by  the 
Presbyterian  churches  of  our  whole  land.  But  as 
heretofore,  this  will  be  done  for  the  promotion  of 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  331 

vital  godliness  rather  than  for  sectarianism,"  and 
it  "  will  not  forget  that  there  is  an  ethical  as  well 
as  an  emotive  life  in  true  religion,"  and  therefore 
will  assume  "  the  liberty  of  meddling  with  every 
question  which  agitates  the  civil  or  Christian  com- 
munity." During  the  brief  term  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
active  control  as  editor-in-chief  of  "  The  Independ- 
ent "  the  influence  of  the  paper  was  maintained,  if 
it  was  not  enhanced.  Its  efficient  service  in  sus- 
taining the  courage  of  the  people,  urging  aggressive, 
patient,  and  persistent  heroism,  chiding  the  delays 
which  McClellan's  dilatory  policy  imposed  upon  the 
administration,  preparing  the  way  for  the  emanci- 
pation proclamation,  and  urging  the  issuing  of  one, 
has  already  been  referred  to  in  a  previous  chapter. 
What  Mr.  Beecher  could  have  made  of  "  The  In- 
dependent "  if  he  had  been  adequately  supported  is 
matter  for  surmise,  not  for  history.  He  was  not 
adequately  supported.  Mr.  Tilton  was  as  lacking 
in  administrative  ability  as  Mr.  Beecher ;  he  was 
not  more  systematic  by  temperament,  he  was  not 
steadied  by  great  faith  in  great  principles,  and  he 
was  always  ambitious  to  be  editor-in-chief  himself  ; 
and  at  the  end  of  two  years  Mr.  Beecher  resigned 
the  editorship,  to  leave  his  friend  and  protege  in  his 
place. 

In  January,  1870,  the  publishing  firm  of  J.  B. 
Ford  &  Company  having  bought  a  small  and  un- 

1  The  effect*  of  this  resignation  and  his  ultimate  entire  with- 
drawal from  the  paper,  and  the  reasons  that  led  to  it,  have  been 
stated  in  a  preceding  chapter.     Chapter  xu. 


332  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

successful  religious  weekly  entitled  "The  Church 
Union,"  started  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the  or- 
ganic unity  of  all  Protestant  Evangelical  churches, 
changed  its  name  to  "The  Christian  Union,"  and  Mr. 
Beecher  assumed  its  editorship.  At  the  same  time 
with  its  change  of  name,  its  character  and  purpose 
were  changed.  Mr.  Beecher  signalized  his  advent 
by  insisting  from  the  first  that  the  paper  which 
preached  religion  should  also  practice  it.  "  He 
shut  down  at  once  and  forever,"  says  Mr.  John  R. 
Howard,  his  publisher,  "  upon  a  large  class  of  pro- 
fitable business,  in  excluding  medical  advertise- 
ments, and  in  ordering  a  strict  censorship  upon 
whatever  might  offend  the  taste  or  impose  upon  the 
credulity  of  readers."  Those  who  remember  the 
class  of  advertising  on  which  religious  journals  of 
that  period,  with  few  exceptions,  largely  depended 
for  their  income,  will  perhaps  realize  what  so  radi- 
cal action  involved  in  this  starting  of  a  new  jour- 
nal. Mr.  Beecher's  salutatory  was  much  more  elab- 
orate than  that  issued  when  he  took  the  editorial 
charge  of  "  The  Independent,"  and  indicates  the 
enlarged  conception  of  religious  journalism  which 
had  grown  out  of  his  meditation  on  the  enterprise 
during  the  four  or  five  preceding  years.  This  salu- 
tatory defines  also  his  conception  of  religion.  Sim- 
ple as  these  definitions  now  seem,  they  subjected 
him  to  severe  criticism  then.  "  Eeligion  is  but  the 
expression  of  man's  deepest  and  noblest  nature. 
Although  the  development  of  religion  has  a  rela- 
tion to  time  and  history,  religion  itself  is  a  life  and 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  333 

not  a  philosophy,  nor  an  organization.  Its  place  is 
in  the  human  soul.  Its  elements  existed  before  a 
tenet  was  held  or  an  act  performed.  Not  until 
human  nature  perishes  will  religion  cease.  It  does 
not  depend  for  existence  upon  historic  testimony. 
Although  illustrated  by  miracles,  it  may  exist  with- 
out miracles  :  although  enforced  by  arguments,  it 
may  exist  without  arguments,  as  the  inevitable 
outworking  of  a  divine  and  constitutional  element 
in  man."  This  is  but  saying  in  another  form  what 
Sabatier  has  said  in  the  epigrammatic  expression, 
"  Man  is  incurably  religious."  To  Mr.  Beecher 
the  religious  nature  was  "  as  much  a  part  of  crea- 
tion as  the  globe  itself  and  its  physical  properties, 
and  far  more  important."  Religion  is,  therefore, 
more  than  Christianity,  but  "  Christianity  is  the 
best  exposition  of  that  [religious]  nature,  its  rela- 
tions, duties,  and  aspirations."  These  aspirations 
of  the  religious  nature,  fed  by  Christianity,  are 
common  to  all  Christian  denominations  ;  and  it  is  to 
the  interpretation  of  these  common  elements  in  the 
Christian  life  Mr.  Beecher  consecrated  "  The  Chris- 
tian Union."  "  This  paper  will  not  identify  itself 
with  that  which  is  special  to  the  organization  of  any 
of  the  great  Christian  denominations,  but  rather 
with  that  interior  religious  life  which  in  all  sects 
witnesses  to  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  It 
was  therefore  to  be  the  purpose  of  the  paper  to  repre- 
sent, not  Church  union,  but  Christian  union.  "  We 
distinguish  between  oneness  of  Church  and  oneness 
of  Christian    sympathy.    Not    only  shall  we    not 


334  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

labor  for  an  external  and  ecclesiastical  unity,  but 
we  should  regard  it  as  a  step  backward.  .  .  . 
There  will  never  be  moral  unity  among  Christians 
until  the  phantasy  of  Corporate  Unity  is  expelled 
from  the  imagination."  For  this  reason  " '  The 
Christian  Union '  wiU  devote  no  time  to  inveigh- 
ing against  sects,  but  it  will  spare  no  pains  to 
persuade  Christians  of  every  sect  to  treat  one  an- 
other with  Christian  charity,  love,  and  sympathy." 
"Above  all  and  hardest  of  all,  it  will  be  our 
endeavor  to  breathe,  through  the  columns  of  '  The 
Christian  Union,'  such  Christian  love,  courage, 
equity,  and  gentleness  as  shall  exemplify  the  doc- 
trine which  it  unfolds,  and  shall  bring  it  into  sym- 
pathy with  the  mind  and  will  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

If  the  reader  thinks  these  quotations  are  the 
utterances  of  truisms,  he  might  be  induced  to 
change  his  mind  if  he  were  to  turn  over  the  pages 
of  the  first  issues  of  "  The  Christian  Union,"  and 
see  how  severely  Mr.  Beecher  was  assailed  because 
of  them.  He  is  attacked  for  recognizing  the  right 
of  denominations  to  exist,  and  not  demanding  a 
union  which  shall  obliterate  them ;  for  proposing 
to  lay  emphasis  on  the  practical,  rather  than  on  the 
ethical  aspects  of  religion ;  for  affirming  the  inde- 
structible religious  nature  of  man,  in  the  face  of 
Paul's  declaration  that  none  of  the  princes  of  this 
world  knew  the  wisdom  of  God  ;  and  his  ability 
to  act  as  a  ffuide  to  Protestantism  is  denied  be- 
cause  "  he  is  too  impulsive  ; "    "  he  is  too  senti- 


EDITOR  AND  AUTHOR  335 

mental ;  "  "  he  is  too  loose  ;  "  "  he  is  too  ready  to 
surrender  truth."  To  this  latter  accusation  Mr. 
Beecher  replies  :  "  We  shall  take  it  to  heart,  and 
strive  henceforth  to  be  slower,  drier,  tighter,  and 
more  obstinate." 

At  the  time  when  "  The  Christian  Union  "  was 
organized,  undenominational  religious  journalism 
was  unknown,  if  not  unthought  of.  It  was  sup- 
posed to  be  necessary  to  have  a  church  constitu- 
ency behind  each  church  organ.  The  religious 
journals  were,  I  think  without  an  exception,  de- 
nominational in  their  character ;  most  of  them 
were  organs  of  an  ecclesiastical  system  ;  and  it  was 
their  prunary  function  to  represent,  maintain,  and 
defend  the  ecclesiastical  organization,  its  creeds,  its 
rituals,  its  methods,  its  personnel.  These  denomi- 
national organs  were  ecclesiastical,  theological,  con- 
troversial ;  as  partisan  in  the  realm  of  religion  as 
the  party  press  in  the  realm  of  public  affairs.  The 
notion  that,  underlying  all  the  sects,  there  is  a 
great  indestructible  religious  sentiment,  that  this 
indestructible  religious  sentiment  is  more  than  the 
creeds  which  interpret  it  in  dogmatic  forms,  more 
than  the  rituals  which  interpret  it  in  worship,  and 
more  than  the  organizations  which  interpret  it  in 
aggressive  action,  though  it  is  the  commonplace  of 
popular  opinion  to-day,  was  an  incredible  novelty 
when  Mr.  Beecher  propounded  it  as  the  basis  of  a 
religious  journal  in  1870.  He  had  always  appealed 
from  the  ecclesiastics  to  the  people  in  his  pulj^it : 
he  now  made  the  same  appeal  to  a  wider  constitu- 


336  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

ency  in  the  press.  Along  with  this  conception  of 
Christian  life  and  this  belief  in  a  Christian  con- 
stituency, was  a  conception  of  religion  as  a  vital- 
izing force,  to  be  applied  to  every  department  of 
human  activity.  He  determined  to  make  a  paper, 
not  for  church  people  merely,  but  for  the  plain 
people  of  every  creed  and  no  creed,  and  therefore 
a  paper  which  should  "  seek  to  interpret  the  Bible 
rather  as  a  religion  of  life  than  as  a  book  of 
doctrine."  In  my  notebook  is  one  sentence  which 
he  threw  out  in  a  subsequent  discussion  concern- 
ing the  "  Farm  and  Garden "  department  of  the 
paper  :  "  It  is  the  aim  of  '  The  Christian  Union,'  " 
said  he,  "to  gospelize  all  the  industrial  functions 
of  life." 

But  both  these  aims  —  to  rej)resent  what  is  com- 
mon rather  than  what  is  denominational,  and  to 
represent  what  is  practical  rather  than  what  is 
scientific,  in  the  religious  life  —  were  subordinate 
to  his  purpose  to  maintain  in  the  pages  of  "  The 
Christian  Union  "  a  Christian  spirit,  one  in  "  sym- 
pathy with  the  mind  and  will  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  How  fully  he  carried  out  this  purpose  no 
one  who  was  not  with  him  in  the  times  of  great 
trial  and  provocation  can  ever  fully  know.  He  often 
reiterated  this  sentiment  in  our  editorial  conferences 
after  I  became  associated  witli  him  on  the  paper. 
"  If  you  are  good-natured,"  he  said  once,  "  there  is 
nothing  which  you  cannot  say  ;  if  you  are  not  good- 
natured,  you  cannot  say  anything."  Never  in  the 
five  years  in  which  we  were  associated  do  I  recall  a 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  337 

single  instance  in  which  he  manifested  an  acerb  or 
irritated  spirit,  a  desire  to  hit  back,  a  wish  to  get 
even  with  an  antagonist,  or  even  an  ambition  for  a 
victory  over  him.  He  would  not  allow  the  journal 
to  be  used  in  his  own  defense.  He  would  defend 
Plymouth  Church,  if  the  church  were  attacked  ;  he 
would  restate  and  explain  his  own  statements  of 
doctrine,  if  they  had  been  misinterpreted  or  misun- 
derstood ;  but  he  would  never  use  the  editorial 
columns,  as  he  never  used  his  pulpit,  for  purposes 
of  personal  defense.  He  was  quick  and  keen  in  re- 
partee, but  it  was  always  good-natured  repartee.  He 
never  wrote,  and  rarely  uttered,  a  sentence  which 
had  a  sting  in  it :  not  because  he  could  not,  but 
because  he  would  not.  He  would  not  even  allow 
himself  to  be  defended  in  the  columns  of  the  paper 
by  his  associates.  After  I  became  co-editor,  it  was 
not  my  custom  to  send  to  him  the  proofs  of  the 
editorial  pages  for  his  examination :  he  trusted 
them  to  me  absolutely  from  the  first;  but  on  one 
occasion  a  daily  paper  had  attacked  him  so  venom- 
ously, and  with  such  gross  misrepresentation  of 
what  he  had  said,  that  I  resolved  to  depart  from  the 
standing  rule  of  our  journal,  and  reply.  I  sent  my 
reply,  in  proof,  to  him,  unwilling  to  set  at  naught, 
without  his  consent,  the  rule  which  he  had  estab- 
lished, and  he  returned  the  reply  to  me  with  the 
request,  which,  of  course,  was  tantamount  to  a 
command,  to  suppress  the  editorial.  I  think  now, 
as  I  thought  then,  that  he  carried  this  principle  too 
far.    The  journal  suffered  from  the  silence  which 


338  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

he  imposed  upon  it,  during  the  time  in  which  he 
was  subjected  to  vituperation  and  abuse,  because 
there  were  many  who  could  not  understand  the 
chivalric  cause  for  such  silence,  and  counted  it  as 
giving  a  quasi  consent  to  the  rumors  which  were 
rife  concerning  him. 

In  my  judgment  Mr.  Beecher  was  a  great  edi- 
torial writer,  and  he  would  be  universally  counted 
so  were  it  not  that  his  eminence  as  a  writer  has  been 
dimmed  by  his  greater  eminence  as  an  orator. 
An  editorial  writer  must  be  interested  in  current 
events,  acquainted  with  current  opinion,  have  a 
grasp  of  great  fundamental  principles,  an  accurate, 
though  not  necessarily  a  detailed  knowledge  of 
facts,  must  be  able  to  concentrate  on  one  theme, 
in  one  article,  all  his  powers,  must  have  an  imaginar 
tion  which  presents  principles  in  concrete  forms, 
an  emotion  which  vivifies  his  teaching  with  life, 
must  write  a  vigorous,  terse  English,  must  waste 
no  words  in  rhetorical  amplifications,  and  must 
possess  power  to  create,  not  merely  reflect,  public 
opinion.  All  these  powers  Mr.  Beecher  had  in  an 
eminent  degree,  and,  superadded  to  them,  an  iri- 
descent humor  and  a  self-controlled  emotion,  which 
prevented  his  editorials  from  ever  being  afflicted 
with  dullness  :  they  now  flashed  fire  and  now  were 
rich  with  color,  like  his  own  favorite  opal.  Re- 
reading the  pages  of  the  first  volume  of  "  The 
Christian  Union,"  to  which  he  contributed  more 
largely  than  to  any  subsequent  issues,  I  am  impressed 
with  these  qualities  manifesting  themselves  in  dif- 


EDITOR  AND  AUTHOR  339 

ferent  proportions  in  different  contributions,  —  now 
in  a  strong  discussion  of  some  great  public  question ; 
now  in  a  succession  of  paragraphs,  like  an  after- 
dinner  table-talk. 

The  phenomenal  success  into  which  "  The  Chris- 
tian Union  "  leaped  from  its  birth  was  due  partly 
to  the  conception  which  Mr.  Beecher  had  of  what 
a  religious  journal  should  be,  and  to  the  spirit  which 
he  infused  into  it  through  others.  But  it  was  not 
less  due  to  the  loyal  seconding  and  support  of  Mr. 
George  S.  Merriam,  Mr.  Beecher's  associate  in  the 
editorship,  and  the  boundless  energy  and  sagac- 
ity of  the  publishers,  Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert. 
What  as  editor  Mr.  Beecher  did  in  those  first  years 
of  "  The  Christian  Union,"  in  it,  and  for  it,  and 
through  it,  Mr.  George  S.  Merriam,  who  was  its 
real  editor  from  May,  1870,  to  December,  1875, 
tells  in  the  following  letter,  which,  written  to  me, 
at  my  request  for  information,  he  permits  me  to 
incorporate  here :  — 

I  went  to  the  paper  in  May,  1870,  almost  immediately 
after  it  started,  and  remained,  for  the  most  part  as  man- 
aging editor,  until  December,  1875,  when  I  left  on 
account  of  a  difference  with  Mr.  Beecher  over  a  business 
question.  During  that  period  Mr.  Beecher  wrote  very 
little  and  edited  still  less.  The  exact  amount  of  his 
writing  could  be  learned,  if  it  were  worth  while,  from 
the  record  of  all  contributions  to  the  paper  which  I  kept 
in  the  big  editorial  book,  which  I  suppose  is  still  in  your 
archives.  He  was  so  absorbed  by  other  occupations, 
and  so  distracted  by  cares,  that  we  could  get  from  him 
little  work  and  usually  little  attention  —  and  I  think  the 


340  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

tongue  rather  than  the  pen  was  his  natural  weapon. 
Brilliantly  though  he  often  wrote,  it  seemed  to  require 
a  special  occasion  and  considerable  pressure  to  induce 
him  to  write.  But  talk,  —  why,  when  he  was  in  good 
mood,  and  that  was  much  of  the  time,  an  audience  of 
two  or  three,  and  a  congenial  theme,  would  move  him 
to  speech  as  eloquent  as  if  he  were  in  Plymouth  pulpit. 
He  would  sit  on  the  table  (if  so  it  chanced  in  an  office), 
and  hold  forth  so  brilliantly  that  Edward  Ford,  most 
enterprising  of  publishers,  once  had  a  scheme  for  keep- 
ing a  stenographer  in  ambush,  and  getting  articles  from 
him  unawares. 

Of  editing  as  a  practical  business  he  knew  almost 
nothing.  But  he  had  the  great  merit  of  giving  his  sub- 
ordinates free  rein,  when  he  knew  he  could  trust  them. 
He  never  interfered  needlessly,  never  nagged,  rarely 
censured  (he  hated  to  give  pain,  in  that  as  in  all  ways), 
and,  to  say  truth,  seldom  praised.  He  pretty  much  let 
the  paper  run  itself,  making  us  glad  once  in  a  while  by 
a  trenchant  editorial  on  public  affairs,  or  a  charming 
"  Star  Paper ; "  hastily  reading  the  editorial  proofs  at 
his  house  Monday  morning,  curbing  now  and  then  his 
too  eager  and  outspoken  lieutenant  by  blue  pencil  lines 
through  his  effusions,  but  for  the  most  part  tolerant  and 
uncritical ;  in  emergencies  selecting  the  business  or  edi- 
torial conductors  —  not  always  with  the  soundest  judg- 
ment ;  coming  into  the  occasional  stockholders'  meetings, 
sanguine  and  optimistic,  and  feeling  when  he  had  said 
a  thing  as  if  he  had  done  it. 

Yet  the  paper  was  deeply  indebted  to  him  for  its 
character  and  for  its  life.  It  was  begun,  not  at  his  initia- 
tive, but  by  young  men  who  devotedly  believed  in  him, 
and  who  aimed  to  gain  for  him  a  larger  audience.  The 
best  of  its  capital  was  the  popularity  of  his  name.  Its 
financial  support  came  from  business  men  who  not  only 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  341 

admired  but  loved  him  —  men  of   the  type  of  Henry 

W and    my    father  —  who    put    in    their    money 

quite  as  much  in  a  missionary  as  a  con)mercial  spirit. 
Its  leading  editorial  writers  were  inspired  by  his  reli- 
gious ideas,  and  guided  by  his  methods  of  imparting 
those  ideas.  Its  most  valuable  feature,  in  my  judgment, 
was  the  reports  by  Mr.  EUinwood  of  his  "  Lecture- 
Room  Talks,"  in  some  ways  better  than  his  sermons, 
and  through  the  paper  far  more  widely  distributed,  with 
a  character  of  their  own,  less  j^hilosophical  and  eloquent 
than  the  sermons,  familiar,  colloquial,  and  winning ; 
rich  in  inspiration,  suggestion,  comfort.  His  name  drew 
the  paper's  first  constituency,  and  attracted  writers. 
The  enterprise  of  his  publishers  (I  must  name  Mr.  John 
R.  Howard,  the  sympathetic  and  skillful  editor  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  and  Mrs.  Stowe's  writings,  and  Mr.  Edward 
D.  Ford,  whose  unresting  energy  consumed  his  life  too 
soon)  greatly  widened  that  constituency.  The  paper 
shared  Mr.  Beecher's  fortunes,  and  when  his  reputation 
tottered,  it  came  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  It  was  rescued 
by  his  loyal  business  friends,  who  again  backed  their 
faith  with  their  substance.  Its  later  history  you  knew 
better  than  I.  Its  survival  as  "  The  Outlook,"  modified 
in  character,  but  eminent  in  strength  and  influence,  is  in 
a  sense  a  monument  of  Mr.  Beecher's  power  to  inspire 
and  to  lead,  and  the  faith  and  loyalty  with  which  his 
followers  responded. 

What  Mr.  Merriani  says  of  Mr.  Beecher  as  edi- 
tor during  those  early  years  of  "The  Christian 
Union  "  is  equally  true  of  the  later  years  when  I 
was  associated  with  Mr.  Beecher  (1876-81),  ex- 
cept that  he  did  probably  even  less  practical  edit- 
ing.   He  liked  to  talk,  but  work  with  the  pen  grew 


342  HENRY  WARD   EEECHER 

increasingly  distasteful  to  him.  His  contributions 
became  more  and  more  rare.  He  never  read  the  edi- 
torial proof  after  I  became  his  associate.  He  rarely- 
counseled  me  as  to  the  position  which  the  paper 
should  take  on  any  specific  question.  At  first  I 
would  sometimes  go  to  him  for  counsel ;  occasion- 
ally he  would  give  it  to  me  ;  more  frequently  he 
would  say  that  he  had  not  yet  studied  the  question 
under  consideration,  and  when  I  urged  that  the 
subscribers  to  a  weekly  paper  could  not  wait  in- 
definitely for  the  editor  to  form  his  opinion  on  an 
issue  of  current  interest,  he  would  reply  that  then 
I  must  decide,  —  he  would  not  speak  on  any  sub- 
ject until  he  had  studied  it.  Under  the  by-laws  of 
the  paper  the  absolute  control  of  all  its  contents 
was  vested  in  the  editor-in-chief,  and  in  his  ab- 
sence, in  his  first  assistant ;  and  as  Mr.  Beecher 
was  practically  always  absent,  the  control  passed 
naturally  into  my  hands,  where  he  seemed  willing 
to  intrust  it. 

And  yet,  though  Mr.  Beecher  did  no  practical 
editing,  I  call  him  a  great  editor,  in  the  sense  in 
which  Mr.  Fletcher  Harper  was  a  great  editor.  I 
do  not  think  Mr.  Harper  ever  wrote  a  line  for  publi- 
cation ;  I  doubt  whether  he  ever  read  a  manuscript ; 
but  he  created  "  Harper's  Magazine,"  "  Harper's 
Weekly,"  and  "  Harper's  Bazaar,"  and  pervaded 
them  with  his  own  informing  spirit.  If  to  be  the 
editor  of  a  paper  is  to  sit  at  its  desk,  examine  its 
manuscripts,  determine  its  weekly  contents,  and 
read  and  revise  its  proofs,  Mr.  Beecher  never  was 


EDITOR   AND  AUTHOR  343 

an  editor.  Nor  did  he  do  the  larger  executive 
work  —  the  determination  of  the  structure  of  each 
weekly  issue,  the  selection  of  contributors,  the  ad- 
justment of  themes,  that  a  due  proportion  may  be 
preserved  in  the  weekly  issues  or  in  the  journal  as 
a  whole  —  in  short,  the  architectural  building  work 
which  belongs  to  the  editorial  conduct  of  a  great 
paper.  He  was  not  fitted  either  by  temperament 
or  by  inclination  for  such  duties.  An  editor  must 
take  his  theme  from  current  events.  He  must  write 
not  concerning  the  thing  which  preeminently  inter- 
ests himself,  but  concerning  the  things  which  inter- 
est the  public.  He  must  not  only  feel  the  pulse  of 
his  constituency,  but  to  some  extent  must  reflect 
their  sentiments.  He  may  do  this  deliberately  and 
consciously,  as  the  editor  of  "  The  London  Times  " 
did  in  its  most  influential  days ;  or  he  may  belong 
by  his  thought  and  feeling  to  a  school  of  thinkers, 
and  by  representing  them,  build  up  a  supporting 
constituency,  as  Horace  Greeley  did  in  "  The  Trib- 
une," and  William  Lloyd  Garrison  did  in  "  The 
Liberator."  Mr.  Beecher  was  by  temperament 
and  training  too  independent,  his  critics  would 
say  too  idiosyncratic,  to  do  either.  Routine  was 
always  distastefid  to  him ;  and  editorial  work 
involves  a  certain  subjection  to  routine. 

But  he  created  a  new  school  of  journalism,  and 
gave  to  it  impulse  and  inspiration  by  his  own  pen. 
To  the  journal  which  he  founded  he  gave  its  form, 
its  aim,  its  purpose,  its  policy,  and  he  inspired  it 
with  his  life,  and  —  I  may  quote  here  the  words 


344  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

wlwcli  I  wrote  when,  in  1881,  lie  withdrew  from  it  — 
*'  He  leaves  it  now  with  the  affection  and  esteem 
of  all  who  are  connected  with  it,  because  he  sees  it 
so  fully  realizing  the  dream  of  fifteen  years  ago." 
The  journal  which  he  founded  has  changed  its 
name  ;  it  has  many  features  not  of  his  designing  ;  its 
function  and  purpose  have  undergone  great  modifi- 
cations, —  I  think  great  enlargement,  —  but  I  hope 
its  essential  spirit  remains  unaltered  :  the  spirit 
which  believes  in  the  indestructible  religious  nature 
of  man,  in  Evangelical  Christianity  as  the  most  spir- 
itual expression  of  that  divine  life,  and  in  the  ap- 
plication of  the  precepts  and  principles  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and,  still  more,  of  his  essential  spirit  of 
faith  and  hope  and  love,  to  the  solution  of  all  pro- 
blems, organic  and  individual,  of  our  complicated 
modern  social  life.  Whatever  changes  it  may 
undergo  in  the  future,  so  long  as  it  continues 
to  represent  the  unity  of  the  faith  in  that  love 
which  is  the  bond  of  perfectness,  it  will  continue,  to 
quote  Mr.  Merriam's  words,  "  a  monument  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  power  to  inspire  and  to  lead." 

As  an  author,  Mr.  Beecher  will  be  known  to 
posterity  chiefly  by  his  "  Life  of  Christ."  His 
"  Star  Papers,"  recreative  writings,  written  at  a 
sitting,  sometimes  as  colloquial  as  his  conversation, 
sometimes  as  exalted  in  diction  as  the  noblest  pass- 
ages in  his  sermons,  covering  every  conceivable 
theme,  from  "  Trouting"  or  "  Building  a  House  " 
to   "  The   Liberty  of  Prayer  "  or  "  The  Fullness 


EDITOR  AND  AUTHOR  345 

of  God,"  and  written  in  every  variety  of  mood, 
from  the  most  boyish  and  frolicsome  to  the  most 
serious  and  spiritual,  illustrate  the  many-sided- 
ness of  his  nature  —  the  multiplicity  of  his  inter- 
ests, the  catholicity  of  his  tastes,  and  the  ver- 
satility of  his  genius.  But  the  very  variety  of 
theme  and  mood  and  treatment,  and  the  rapidity 
of  utterance,  which  sometimes  fires  his  writings 
with  a  splendid  emotion,  and  sometimes  mars 
them  with  crudities  of  style,  will  prevent  them 
from  taking  that  place  in  literature,  by  the  side 
of  the  collections  of  the  great  essayists,  to  which 
their  genius,  had  it  been  more  carefully  trained, 
would  have  entitled  them.  "  Norwood  "  furnishes 
many  pictures  of  New  England  life,  some  idyllic, 
some  satirical,  all  colored  by  a  vivid  imagina- 
tion and  transfused  with  great  tenderness  of  feel- 
ing ;  but  "  Norwood  "  can  hardly  be  called  a  story, 
certainly  not  a  novel.  His  own  explanation  in  the 
preface  of  the  way  in  which  it  came  to  be  written, 
and  of  his  preparation,  or,  rather,  literary  unpre- 
paredness,  for  writing  it,  sufficiently  indicate  the 
reason.  At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Bonner 
asked  him  to  write  a  story  for  "  The  Ledger." 
"  Had  it  been  a  request  to  carve  a  statue  or  build 
a  man-of-war,  the  task  would  hardly  have  seemed 
less  likely  of  accomplishment.  A  very  moderate 
reader  even  of  fictions,  I  had  never  studied  the  mys- 
tery of  their  construction.  Plot  and  counter-plot, 
the  due  proportion  of  parts,  the  whole  machinery  of 
a  novel  seemed  hopelessly  outside  of  my  studies." 


346  HENRY*  WARD   BEECHER 

But  he  was  not  unwilling  to  seek  relaxation  from 
the  exhausting  excitement  of  public  affairs  by 
turning  his  mind  into  new  channels  of  thought 
and  interest,  and,  reflecting  that  any  real  human 
experience  was  intrinsically  interesting,  and  that 
the  life  of  a  humble  family  for  a  single  day  could 
hardly  fail  to  serve  some  purpose,  he  undertook 
this  story,  or  rather,  we  might  say,  these  pictures 
of  New  England  life. 

But  his  "  Life  of  Christ "  was  written  with 
enthusiasm.  It  is  true  that  it  was  carried  on  under 
continual  difficulties.  By  the  varied  incidents  of 
his  busy  life  the  work  was  frequently  interrupted  ; 
at  one  time  it  was  intermitted  for  several  years. 
The  quietude  of  mind  and  the  continuity  of  com- 
position which  would  seem  to  have  been  almost  in- 
dispensable to  the  highest  and  best  literary  result, 
he  was  never  able  to  secure.  These  difficulties 
were  such  as  finally  prevented  him  from  finishing 
the  work.  He  had  but  just  set  himself  to  its  com- 
pletion when  his  sudden  death  brought  his  work 
to  a  close  with  the  second  volume  unfinished.  As 
a  result,  we  have  not  his  portrayal  and  interpre- 
tation of  the  Passion  Week.  Two  circumstances 
noted  by  the  editors,  his  son  and  son-in-law,  who 
completed  the  volume  after  his  death,  are  very 
significant  of  his  character  as  a  preacher  :  one, 
that  there  was  found  in  Mr.  Beecher's  sermons  the 
material  for  the  completion  of  the  work,  from  and 
including  the  resurrection  of  Lazarus,  with  one 
important  exception  ;  the  other,  that  this  exception 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  347 

was  the  crucifixion.  "  We  canuot  find,"  say  the 
editors,  "  after  an  examination  of  many  hundreds 
of  sermons,  published  and  unpublished,  that  Mr. 
Beecher  ever  preached  directly  on  that  subject ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  often  said  that  it  was  impos- 
sible ;  the  subject  was  too  awful  and  sublime." 
With  this  exception,  Mr.  Beecher  was,  in  the 
strictest  and  most  primitive  sense  of  the  term,  a 
preacher  of  Christ.  I  do  not  doubt  that,  mth  this 
exception,  practically  the  whole  story  of  Christ's 
life,  as  it  is  gathered  from  the  four  Gospels, 
would  be  found  retold  in  effective  narrative  form 
in  the  forty  years  of  Mr.  Beecher's  ministry  in 
Brooklyn. 

An  extraordinary  number  of  lives  of  Christ  have 
been  published  in  the  English  language,  to  say 
nothing  of  those  not  translated,  and  the  variety 
of  treatment  is  extraordinary:  the  Scholar's  life 
—  bringing  to  bear  upon  the  Gospels,  for  their 
illumination,  all  that  painstaking  research  can  dis- 
cover in  Jewish,  Greek,  and  Latin  literature ; 
the  Philosopher's  life  —  making  the  simple  and 
artless  narrative  a  text  on  which  to  hang  elaborate 
discussions,  theological,  or  critical,  or  chronological, 
or  literary ;  the  Skeptic's  life  —  written  for  the 
purpose  of  proving  that  there  was  in  the  life  no 
story  worth  the  telling,  or  that  all  was  beautiful 
but  fabulous,  the  outgrowth  of  a  superstitious  and 
childish  imagination,  or  a  series  of  exaggerations  in 
which  the  pen  of  imaginative  and  credulous  writers 
has  turned  simple  events  into  wonder-awakening 


348  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

miracles,  as  Christ  is  thought  to  have  turned  the 
water  into  wine  ;  the  Hortatory  life  —  in  which  the 
biogTaphy  is  naught,  and  the  moralizing  wearisome  ; 
the  Imaginative  life  —  in  which  adjectives  are 
summoned  to  furnish  a  chromo-like  color  to  the 
narrative  ;  the  Humanistic  life  —  in  which  Jesus 
is  portrayed  as  an  enthusiast,  and  in  which  the  cen- 
tral figure  is  as  feeble  as  sometimes  the  subordi- 
nate figures  are  dramatically  conceived  and  graph- 
ically portrayed  ;  the  Jewish  life  —  in  which  the 
rabbinical  legends  are  gathered  together,  and  the 
bitter  hostility  of  the  ecclesiasticism  of  Caiaphas 
is  reproduced  in  a  modern  story.  Mr.  Beecher's 
life  I  should  characterize,  in  a  word,  as  interpreta- 
tive. Few  authorities  are  cited ;  there  is  no  indi- 
cation of  that  familiarity  with  Jewish  law  which 
characterizes  Edersheim's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  or  of 
that  familiarity  with  classical  life  which  makes 
Geikie's "  Life  of  Christ,"  though  less  encyclo- 
paedic, even  more  valuable  to  the  lay  reader.  Mr. 
Beecher  enters  into  no  philosophical  disquisitions, 
except  in  the  one  chapter  in  the  first  volume  on 
the  nature  of  Christ  as  a  divine  spirit  in  a  human 
body,  —  a  chapter  which  might  be  omitted  from 
the  work  without  impairing  its  value,  and  which 
propounds  a  philosophy  with  which  the  rest  of 
the  work  can  hardly  be  reconciled.  He  does  not 
discuss  the  skeptic,  mythical,  legendary,  and  natur- 
alistic interpretations  of  the  miraculous  element 
in  the  Gospels  ;  he  simply  lives  in  the  first  cen- 
tury, breathes  its  atmosphere,  thinks  its  thoughts. 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  349 

interprets  its  life.  He  enters  into  the  character  of 
the  central  figure,  and  portrays  a  Christ  who  is  at 
once  wholly  human  and  wholly  divine.  The  theo- 
logy is  as  simple  as  that  of  the  Apostles ;  the 
faith  as  childlike  and  unquestioning ;  the  literary 
pictures  of  scenes  and  events  are  as  unecclesias- 
tical,  unconventional,  naturally  human  as  the  best 
water-colors  in  Tissot's  remarkable  collection ;  the 
insight  into  the  character  and  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  is  certainly  unsurpassed,  and  to  my  thought 
unequaled,  by  any  analogous  work.  As  an  inter- 
pretation of  the  life,  character,  and  teachings  of 
Jesus  Christ,  it  occupies  a  unique  place  in  that 
library  of  "  Lives  of  Christ "  which  the  nineteenth 
century  produced. 

The  writer  is  known  by  his  style  even  more  than 
the  wearer  by  his  clothes.  The  defects  and  the 
excellencies  of  Mr.  Beecher  are  those  of  an  extreme 
naturalness :  he  wrote  as  he  spoke  —  extempo- 
raneously. His  preparations  were  general,  not 
specific.  He  rarely  revised  or  polished  or  perfected ; 
still  more  rarely  did  he  rewrite.  He  talked  with 
his  pen,  and  writing  was  wearisome  to  him  because 
he  could  not  drive  his  pen  fast  enough  to  keep  pace 
with  his  thinking.  But  he  never  learned  to  write 
by  dictation ;  even  his  letters  were  autographic. 
By  training  and  temperament  a  preacher,  he  car- 
ried the  didactic  spirit  into  all  his  serious  writing. 
Artistic  he  certainly  was,  but  not  continuously, 
and  never  did  he  write  merely  for  art's  sake.  In 
one    of  his  sermons  he  says,  "  The  figures  of  the 


350  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

Bible  are  not  mere  graceful  ornaments  —  ara- 
besques to  grace  a  border,  or  fancy  frescoes  that 
give  mere  beauty  to  a  chamber  or  saloon.  They 
are  language."  In  this  sentence  he  interprets  his 
own  use  of  the  imagination.  Sometimes  in  his 
lighter  writing  it  is  an  end ;  he  indulges  in  the 
play  of  the  imagination  for  the  mere  enjoyment 
of  so  doing ;  but  generally,  his  imagination  is 
illuminating;  it  is  called  into  the  service  of  an 
earnest  purpose.  His  humor  is  instinctive  and 
irrepressible.  He  perceives  incongruous  relations, 
and  his  perception  of  them  flashes  out  on  all 
occasions,  giving  a  spontaneous  and  unpremeditated 
sparkle  to  his  most  serious  discourses.  His  style  is 
very  varied,  depending  more  than  in  almost  any 
writer  I  am  familiar  with,  upon  the  mood  of  the 
moment ;  but  in  all  its  variations,  it  preserves  the 
qualities  of  clearness,  vigor,  and  sympathy.  The 
singleness  of  his  purpose  made  his  style  clear,  for 
he  never  considered  what  was  prudent  to  say,  but 
only  how  he  could  make  his  auditors  or  readers 
understand  him.  His  courage,  the  directness  of  his 
aim,  and  the  marshaling  of  his  thoughts,  which 
often  march  in  serried  ranks,  rank  after  rank,  over- 
whelming, not  only  by  their  number,  but  by  their 
disciplined  array,  combined  to  give  to  his  style 
great  vigor.  His  sympathy  gave  to  his  style  a 
quality  which  I  can  compare  only  to  timbre  in  the 
voice,  —  penetrating,  inviting,  winning,  subduing. 
He  was  a  student  of  many  authors,  —  not  only  for 


EDITOR  AND   AUTHOR  351 

their  ideas  but  for  their  style,  —  but  he  was  an  imita- 
tor of  none.  He  formed  himself  on  no  mould,  — 
indeed,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  he  did  not 
consciously  mould  himself  at  all,  —  he  grew.  But 
he  lived  in  intellectual  companionship  with  great 
authors.  Neither  in  public  address  nor  in  private 
conversation  did  he  indicate  a  lover's  familiarity 
with  Shakespeare  among  the  older  authors,  or  with 
Browning,  Emerson,  or  Carlyle  among  the  later 
writers.  But  he  had  read  and  studied  Ruskin's 
"  Modern  Painters,"  which  he  heartily  commends 
as  an  interpretation  of  nature ;  he  was  familiar 
with  Milton,  some  of  whose  prose  essays  he  had 
read  and  reread  many  times  ;  and  with  Homer  and 
Dante,  though  only  through  translations. 

Critics  treat  literature  by  different  and  even 
inconsistent  standards.  To  some  literature  is  an 
art,  to  be  tested,  as  a  picture,  by  its  beauty  of 
form  and  color,  or  as  music,  by  its  rhythmic  struc- 
ture. To  such  Mr.  Beecher's  writings  and  addresses 
wiU  never  take  a  high  place  in  literature.  They  are 
too  uneven,  pass  too  quickly  from  the  written  to 
the  spoken  style,  from  the  eloquence  of  the  orator 
to  the  effectiveness  of  the  talker  —  are,  in  a  word, 
too  unfinished.  Some  regard  literature  as  an  expres- 
sion of  life,  and  count  that  the  best  literature  which 
best  expresses  the  highest  and  most  varied  life. 
To  such  Mr.  Beecher's  writings  will  always  take  a 
high  place.  For  they  express  always  with  effective- 
ness, generally  with  vigor,  often  with  real  eloquence, 


352  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

frequently  with  consummate  artistic  beauty,  a  life 
of  almost  infinite  variety. 

Before  taking  up  the  closing  days  of  Mr.  Beech- 
er's  life,  a  chapter  must  be  given  to  the  work  which 
contains  his  own  interpretation  of  himself  as  a 
preacher  —  "  The  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching." 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON  PREACHING 

In  1871  Mr.  Henry  W.  Sage,  of  Brooklyn,  a  pro- 
minent member  of  Plymouth  Church  and  a  warm 
friend  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  contributed  the 
necessary  funds  for  the  establishment  of  a  lecture- 
ship on  preaching  in  the  Divinity  School  at  Yale- 
College.  In  honor  of  Mr.  Beecher's  father  it  was 
named  the  Lyman  Beecher  Lectureship  on  Preach- 
ing ;  its  object  was  to  secure  for  young  men  in  the 
seminary  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  art  of  preach- 
ing from  those  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
it.  It  was  generally  understood  that  Mr.  Sage 
desired  especially  to  secure  such  counsels  for  the 
benefit  of  young  ministers  from  his  own  pastor; 
and  accordingly  the  first  three  courses  were  given 
by  Henry  Ward  Beecher :  the  first  specifically  on 
preaching,  the  second  on  church  administration, 
the  third  on  the  use  of  Christian  doctrines,  or  what 
might  be  called  applied  theology. 

In  his  preface  to  the  first  series  of  these  lectures 
Mr.  Beecher  indicates  what  is  both  their  strensfth 
and  their  weakness.  "  The  discourses  here  given," 
he  says,  "  were  wholly  unwritten  and  were  famil- 
iar conversational  addresses,  rather  than  elaborate 
speeches.    I  have  not  been  able  to  revise  the  report- 


354  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

er's  notes,  or  to  correct  the  proofs  of  the  printer.'* 
To  such  work  of  revision  Mr.  Beecher  was  always 
averse.  If  he  had  undertaken  it  in  tliis  case  the 
lectures  would  probably  have  lost  in  familiarity  of 
tone  more  than  they  would  have  gained  in  homo- 
geneity of  structure.  As  usual  in  his  spoken  ad- 
dresses, he  had  in  mind  the  audience  immediately 
before  him,  not  the  larger  audience  he  would  sub- 
sequently reach  through  the  printed  page.  The  lec- 
tures are  throughout  autobiographical  in  spirit,  and 
often  in  form.  They  possess  a  literary  character 
analoo:ous  to  that  of  the  "  Table-Talk  "  of  Luther 
or  of  Coleridge.  They  are  not  symmetrically  philo- 
sophical, but  they  are,  what  is  better,  personal 
and  vital.  It  is  in  this  personality  that  their  chief 
charm  and  perhaps  their  chief  value  lie.  They 
not  only  state  the  philosophy  which  Mr.  Beecher 
had  formulated  as  to  the  ministerial  functions,  but 
they  reveal  the  secret  of  his  own  power,  and  are 
the  product  of  his  own  hfe ;  a  self-revelation  of 
his  own  inmost  spirit,  an  interpretation  of  himself 
to  his  audience.  As  through  a  window  we  look  in 
and  see  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  processes  by 
which  the  sermons  and  addresses  which  produced 
such  results  were  prepared.  In  here  reporting  the 
substance  of  these  conversational  addresses  it  is 
impossible  to  preserve  this  charm  of  personality. 
The  aphoristic  wisdom,  the  genial  humor,  the  ef- 
fervescent spirits,  the  unconventional  piety,  the 
warmth  of  human  sympathy,  the  autobiographical 
reminiscences,  the  personal  self -revelation,  cannot 


THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON  PREACHING  355 

be  preserved,  can  scarcely  be  even  intimated  in  such 
an  abstract  as  is  here  prescribed.  Nor  can  the  large- 
ness of  resource,  the  intellectual  readiness,  the  human 
sympathy,  and  the  genial  humor  that  characterized 
his  answers  to  the  questions  which  the  students 
were  incited  to  propound  to  him  at  the  close  of 
each  lecture,  be  portrayed. 

"  Pulpit  dynamics "  is  the  phrase  which  Mr7\ 
Beecher,  in  personal  conversation  with  me,  used 
to  designate  the  first  volume.  It  was  a  felicitous 
designation.  The  entire  volume  is  devoted  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  secret  of  pulpit  power.  In  it  he 
deals  with  the  minister  exclusively  as  a  preacher. 
"  The  preacher  is  a  teacher  ;  but  he  is  more."  "  He 
looks  beyond  mere  knowledge  to  a  character  which 
that  knowledge  is  to  form.  It  is  not  enough  that 
men  shall  hnoic.  They  must  6e."  Therefore  the 
preacher  must  not  merely  know  ;  he  must  be.  "  The 
truth  must  exist  in  him  as  a  living  experience, 
a  glowing  enthusiasm,  an  intense  reality."  The 
divine  truth  must  be  "  a  part  of  his  own  experience,  / 
so  that  when  he  speaks  to  men  it  shall  not  be  he 
alone  that  speaks,  but  God  in  him."  This  living 
force  of  the  human  soul  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  living  souls  for  the  sake  of  their  transforma- 
tion is  the  fundamental  conception  underlying  all 
successful  preaching.  This  emphasis  on  the  per- 
sonal power  of  the  preacher  emphasizes  the  differ- 
ence between  the  evangelical  and  the  hierarchical 
churches.  "  Both  hold  to  the  indispensableness  of 
divine  power  ;  but  one  believes  that  power  to  work 


356  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

chiefly  througli  church  ordinances^  the  other  be- 
lieves that  it  works  through  living  men."  "  The 
man  that  preaches  with  power  is  an  artist.  He  is 
a  living  creature.  But  the  man  who  merely  comes 
to  administer  ordinances  on  Sundays  or  Saints' 
Days,  who  goes  through  a  regular  routine,  is  no- 
thing but  the  engineer  who  runs  the  machine."  He 
also  does  good,  but  not  the  highest  good.  That  is 
wrought  by  the  sermon  ;  and  among  sermons,  that 
which  is  highest  is  the  one  preached  "  for  divine 
power  on  men's  minds  and  hearts  ;  "  in  which  the 
preacher  has  "  a  definite  reason  why  he  selected  one 
subject  rather  than  another,  and  why  he  put  it  in 
one  form  rather  than  another."  "  The  highest  con- 
ception of  a  sermon  is,  that  it  is  a  prescription 
which  a  man  has  made,  either  for  a  certain  individ- 
ual, or  for  a  certain  class,  or  for  a  certain  state  of 
things  that  he  knows  to  exist  in  the  congregation." 
Next  to  the  character  of  the  preacher  and  a 
definite  object  in  his  sermon  comes  style,  —  the 
avoidance  of  "  scholastic,  artificial  style  ;  "  the  for- 
mation of  a  natural  style,  such  as  a  man  in  earnest 
uses  in  conversation.  In  addition  to  these  qualifica- 
tions for  the  ministry  are  fruitf ulness  in  moral  ideas, 
a  genius  for  them,  such  as  a  mathematician  has  for 
mathematics,  or  a  musician  for  musical  ideas ;  in- 
terest in  men,  sympathy  with  them,  power  to  move 
them ;  "  living  by  faith,  the  sense  of  the  infinite 
and  the  invisible,  the  sense  of  something  else  be- 
sides what  we  see  with  the  physical  eyes,  the  sense 
of  God,  of  eternity,  of  heaven ; "  humility,  willing- 


THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON   PREACHING   357 

ness  to  be  the  least  of  all  God's  servants  and  to 
labor  in  the  humblest  sphere. 

Entering  into  this  ministry  with  these  qualifica- 
tions, the  preacher  must  study  how  to  bring  his 
personality  to  bear  on  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men,  by  all  varieties  of  approach.  "  If  a  man 
can  be  saved  by  pure  intellectual  preaching,  let 
him  have  it.  If  others  require  a  predominance  of 
emotion,  provide  that  for  them.  If  by  others  the 
truth  is  taken  more  easily  through  the  imagination, 
give  it  to  them  by  forms  attractive  to  the  imagina- 
tion. If  there  are  still  others  who  demand  it  in  the 
form  of  facts  and  rules,  see  that  they  have  it  in 
that  form."  "  Preachers  are  too  apt  to  set  the 
truth  before  their  congregations  in  one  way  only, 
.  .  .  whereas,  preaching  should  be  directed  to  every 
element  of  human  nature  that  God  has  implanted 
in  us."  If  the  preacher  has  not  the  necessary  ver- 
satility of  character  he  must  set  himseK  to  develop 
it :  he  must  learn  to  be  all  things  to  all  men.  To 
succeed  in  such  a  ministry  as  this  he  must  make 
preaching  his  whole  business.  Or  if  he  engage  in 
other  pursuits,  he  must  so  do  it  that  they  shaU  add 
to  his  force  in  preaching,  not  detract  from  it.  Gar- 
dening, lecturing,  journeying,  aesthetic  studies,  pub- 
lic affairs,  society  recreations,  may  be  taken  just  in 
so  far  as  they  minister  to  the  preacher's  power, 
and  no  farther.  There  are  material  hindrances  to 
this  impartation  of  personality  which  the  preacher 
should  endeavor  to  avoid  or  remove.  Such  a 
hindrance  is  the  separation  of  the  pews  from  the 


358  HENEY  WARD  BEECHER 

pulpit  by  a  great  space  between  the  two.  Great 
Gothic  pillars  are  another,  behind  which  "  the 
people  can  sit  and  look  at  the  columns  during 
the  whole  of  the  sermon  time."  The  barrel  pulpit 
is  another.  "  I  think  the  matter  so  important,  that 
I  tell  the  truth  and  lie  not,  when  I  say  that  I 
would  not  accept  a  settlement  in  a  very  advan- 
tageous place,  if  I  was  obliged  to  preach  out  of  one 
of  those  old-fashioned  swallows'  nests  on  the  wall." 
In  preparing  for  preaching  a  first  condition  is 
the  study  of  human  nature.  There  are  three  schools 
of  preachers  :  the  Ecclesiastical,  the  Dogmatic,  and 
the  Life  School.  The  first  "  regard  the  Church  on 
earth  as  something  to  be  administered,  and  them- 
selves as  channels,  in  some  sense,  of  Divine  Grace, 
to  direct  the  flow  of  that  divine  institution."  The 
second  are  "  those  who  have  relied  upon  a  preexist- 
ing system  of  truth  .  .  .  and  who  apparently  pro- 
ceed upon  the  supposition  that  their  whole  duty  is 
discharged  when  they  have  made  a  regular  and 
repetitious  statement  of  all  the  great  points  of 
doctrine  from  time  to  time."  The  third  proceeds 
"  upon  the  necessity  for  all  teachers,  first,  to  study 
the  strengths  and  weaknesses  of  human  nature 
minutely ;  and  then  to  make  use  of  such  portions 
of  the  truth  as  are  required  by  the  special  needs 
of  man,  and  for  the  development  of  the  spiritual 
nature  over  the  animal  or  lower  side  —  the  prepara- 
tion of  man  in  liis  higher  nature  for  a  nobler  exist- 
ence hereafter."  The  live  preacher  must  study 
human  nature.    First,  "because  it  illustrates  the 


THE  YALE   LECTURES  ON   PREACHING   359 

divine  nature,  which  we  are  to  interpret  to  men." 
"  The  only  part  of  the  divine  nature  which  we  can 
understand  is  that  part  which  corresponds  to  our- 
selves." Therefore,  practically,  the  study  of  God  is 
but  a  higher  form  of  human  mental  philosophy. 
Second,  the  minister  is  to  cure  men.  Therefore  he 
must  know  what  is  the  disease  of  which  they  are 
to  be  cured,  and  what  is  normal  or  healthful  hu- 
man nature,  from  which  sin  is  a  departure.  Third, 
he  must  know  man  in  order  to  know  how  to  ap- 
proach him,  as  a  surgeon  called  to  amputate  a  leg 
must  know  anatomy  as  well  as  the  surgeon's  tools. 
Every  type  of  human  nature,  every  phase  of  human 
experience,  is,  therefore,  a  proper  subject  for  the 
preacher's  study.  He  ought  to  know  physiology, 
and  the  psychology  which  is  founded  upon  it.  He 
ought  to  study  society  and  he  ought  to  study  the 
individual.  For  such  study  phrenology  is  "  a  con- 
venient basis."  "  Not  only  is  its  nomenclature  con- 
venient, but  what  it  teaches  concerning  craniology 
and  physiology  furnishes  valuable  indications  of 
individual  character."  "  1  see  a  man  with  a  small 
brow  and  big  in  the  lower  part  of  his  head  like  a 
bull,  and  I  know  that  that  man  is  not  likely  to  be 
a  saint."  "If  I  see  a  man  whose  forehead  is  very 
high  and  large,  but  who  is  thin  in  the  back  of  the 
head,  and  with  a  small  neck  and  trunk,  I  say  to  my- 
self ...  he  is  a  man  who  has  great  organs,  but 
nothing  to  drive  them  with.  He  is  like  a  splendid 
locomotive  without  a  boiler."  And  this  study  of 
human  nature  should  be  conducted  for  the  purpose 


360  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

of  regenerating  it.  Therefore  the  minister  must  be 
familiar  with  men,  not  merely  generically  with 
human  nature,  but  specifically  with  individuals.  He 
"  should  take  kindly  to  individual  men  for  the  very 
purpose  of  studying  them."  The  minister  "  must  be 
a  man  among  men.  .  .  .  Books  alone  are  not  enough. 
Studying  is  not  enough." 

As  to  specific  methods  of  preaching  no  universal 
law  can  be  laid  down  :  the  preacher  must  under- 
stand his  own  temperament  and  adapt  his  preach- 
ing to  it.  "  That  is  the  best  cat  that  catches  the 
most  rats.  And  in  your  case  it  will  be  the  best 
form  of  sermon  that  does  the  work  of  the  sermon 
the  best.  If  you  can  do  best  by  writing,  write 
your  sermons  ;  and  if  you  can  do  better  by  not 
writing,  do  not  write  them."  So  as  to  length  of 
sermon :  that  must  depend  upon  the  community ; 
upon  the  church ;  upon  its  other  services ;  and 
upon  the  previous  habits  of  the  people.  There  are 
four  psychological  elements  that  enter  into  the  suc- 
cessful sermon,  —  imagination,  emotion,  enthusi- 
asm, and  conviction.  Imagination  is  indispensable 
to  clearness.  It  is  the  true  germ  of  faith.  It  in- 
cludes "  the  power  of  the  minister  himself  to  real- 
ize the  invisible  God  as  present,  and  to  present  him 
to  the  people."  Emotion  is  indispensable  to  power. 
"  A  minister  without  feeling  is  no  better  than  a 
book.  You  might  just  as  well  put  a  book,  printed 
in  large  type,  on  the  desk  where  all  could  read  it, 
and  have  a  man  turn  over  the  leaves  as  you  read, 
as  to  have  a  man  stand  up,  and  clearly  and  coldly 


THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON  PREACHING  361 

recite  the  prosaic  truth  through  which  he  has  gone 
by  a  logical  course  of  reasoning."  To  imagination 
and  emotion  must  be  added  enthusiasm  and  con- 
viction :  the  first  to  give  outburst  and  glow ;  the 
second  to  carry  conviction  to  others.  "-Do  not 
prove  things  too  much."  "  Preach  truth  to  the 
consciousness  of  men."  N^ 

For  the  most  effective  work  in  preaching,  physi- 
cal equipment  is  necessary.  This  includes  careful 
drill  in  the  use  of  the  voice  and  of  the  whole  body. 
This  drill  must  be  so  thorough  that  the  right  use 
of  both  becomes  a  second  nature.  "  No  knowledge 
is  really  knoidedge  until  you  can  use  it  without 
knowing  it."  This  training  should  include  ges- 
ture and  bodily  carriage,  as  well  as  voice.  It  ought 
to  take  place  early  and  be  incorporated  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  minister.  Other  training  is  not  less 
necessary.  It  should  include  thorough  familiarity 
with  the  Bible  ;  not  so  much  a  knowledge  of  philo- 
sophy, as  a  habit  of  thinking  philosophically,  the 
"habit  of  looking  at  truth,  not  in  isolated  and 
fragmentary  forms,  but  in  all  its  relations  ;  "  and 
skill  in  the  use  of  illustration,  not  for  ornament, 
but  for  producing  conviction ;  a  use  based  on  the 
principle  that  "  substantially  the  mode  in  which  we 
learn  a  new  thing  is  by  its  being  likened  to  some- 
thing that  we  already  know."  Illustrations  rightly 
used  assist  argument,  help  the  hearers  to  remember, 
stimulate  the  imagination,  rest  the  audience  by 
changing  the  faculties  employed  in  listening,  reach 
through  different    avenues  different   hearers,  and 


362  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

bridge  difficult  places  by  teaching  parabolically 
truth  to  which  men  would  refuse  to  listen  if  pre- 
sented directly.  To  be  effective  they  must  be  va- 
rious, often  homely,  accurate,  and  apt  and  prompt. 
The  minister  ought  to  have  health,  and  cultivate 
health.  "  What  I  mean  by  '  health '  is  such  a  feel- 
ing or  tone  in  every  part  of  a  man's  body  that  he 
has  a  natural  language  of  health."  "  It  is  buoyancy. 
It  is  the  insatiable  desire  of  play  and  of  exertion." 
"  A  man  in  health  is  a  fountain,  and  he  flows 
over  at  the  eye,  the  lip,  and  aU  the  time,  by  every 
species  of  action  and  demonstration."  Health, 
thus  defined,  is  almost  indispensable  to  oratorical 
power.  "  The  speakers  that  move  a  crowd  .  .  .  are 
almost  always  men  of  very  large  physical  develop- 
ment, men  of  very  strong  digestive  powers,  and 
whose  lungs  have  great  orating  capacity.  They 
are  men  who,  while  they  have  a  sufficient  thought- 
power  to  create  all  the  material  needed,  have  pre- 
eminently the  explosive  power  by  which  they  can 
thrust  their  material  out  at  men."  Preaching 
"  means  the  hardest  kind  of  work,"  and  therefore 
requires  health.  Without  health  "  it  is  impossible 
to  sustain  a  cheerful  and  hopeful  ministry." 
Health  helps  the  preacher  to  give  healthful  views 
of  Christianity  as  that  which  "  aims  only  at  a 
nobler  style  of  manhood  and  at  a  better  and  hap- 
pier style  of  living.  Health  is  a  sweetener  of  work 
and  gives  a  joyous  relish  for  it.  To  have  health  one 
must  know  how  to  eat,  how  to  sleep,  how  to  exer- 
cise, and  how  to  adjust  his  eating,  his  sleep,  his  exer- 


THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON  PREACHING  363 

cise,  not  according  to  hard  and  fast  rules  given  to 
him  by  another,  but  according  to  his  own  nature 
and  its  needs.  How  Mr.  Beecher  regulated  his  own 
habits  he  told  the  students,  and  from  this  lecture  I 
have  drawn  in  an  earlier  chapter,  in  my  description 
of  his  personal  habits. 

In  his  ninth  lecture  Mr.  Beecher  discusses  ser- 
mon-making :  the  relative  advantages  of  the  writ- 
ten and  unwritten  discourse,  urging  neither,  only 
urging  that  "  the  essential  necessity  is  that  every 
preacher  should  be  able  to  speak  without  notes," 
because  there  are  many  occasions  in  which  nothing 
will  answer  but  the  unwritten  discourse.  But  ex- 
temporaneous preaching  does  not  mean  extempo- 
raneous preparation.  "  There  must  be  incessant 
work."  Sermons  should  be  variable  in  style  and 
quality.  "If  it  be  possible,  never  have  two  plans 
alike."  "  If  you  have  preached  to-day  to  the  heart 
through  the  imagination,  to-morrow  you  are  to 
preach  to  the  heart  through  the  reason."  "  When 
you  have  finished  your  sermon,  not  a  man  of  your 
congregation  should  be  unable  to  teU  you  what  you 
have  done ;  but  when  you  begin  a  sermon,  no  man 
in  the  congregation  ought  to  be  able  to  tell  you 
what  you  are  going  to  do."  The  sermon  should  be 
suggestive,  not  exhaustive.  "  That  sermon  has  been 
overwrought  and  overdone  which  leaves  nothing  for 
the  mind  of  the  hearer  to  do."  "  A  much  larger 
use  should  be  made  of  expository  preaching  than 
has  been  customary  in  our  churches,"  because  of 
the  wealth  and  diversity  of  topics  which  will  come 


364  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

up  for  illustration  by  means  of  expository  preach- 
ing. The  preacher  should  avoid  the  temptation  to 
preach  "  great  sermons  "  —  "  Nebuchadnezzar  ser- 
mons, over  which  the  vain  preacher  stands,  saying, 
'  Is  not  this  great  Babylon  that  I  have  builded  for 
the  house  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  might  of  my 
power  and  for  the  honor  of  my  majesty.'  "  "  Ser- 
mons that  are  truly  great  come  of  themselves. 
They  spring  from  sources  deeper  than  vanity  or 
ambition."  As  to  length  of  sermons,  "  that  should 
never  be  determined  by  the  clock,  but  upon  broader 
considerations  —  short  sermons  for  small  subjects, 
and  long  sermons  for  large  subjects." 

In  all  the   preacher's    ministry,   love   must  be 
/      the  central  element  and  the  secret  of  power  —  to 
the  elucidation  of  this  truth,  the  tenth   and  last 
lecture   of  the  first  series  is  devoted.     Love  "  is 
'  not  so  much  a  faculty  or  power,  as  it  is  a  certain 

condition  of  the  whole  spirit,  made  up  of  the  con- 
tribution of  several  different  elements  of  the  mind, 
having  relations  to  things  superior  and  to  things 
inferior."  "  It  is  the  going-out  of  thought,  of  feel- 
ing, and  of  sympathy  towards  others,  and  towards 
whatever  can  receive  benefit  from  us."  "  It  is  the 
wish  that  whatever  we  are  thinking  of,  or  saying, 
or  doing,  may  make  some  one  better  and  happier." 
It  is  not  lazy,  smiling  good  nature.  It  has  fire  and 
snap,  and  may  be  terribly  angry.  It  is  not  the 
absence  of  any  power,  but  it  gives  quality  and  direc- 
tion to  all  the  powers.  It  is  central  and  funda- 
mental to  the  minister ;  it  inspires  in  him  joy  in 


THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON  PREACHING  365 

his  work,  makes  it  spontaneous  and  healthful,  gives 
to  it  power  and  abundance,  gives  catholicity  to  sym- 
pathy and  therefore  approach  to  all  sorts  of  men, 
sustains  in  discouragement,  gives  freedom  and  tact 
and  skill  and  courage.  "  You  can  discuss  any  topic 
if  you  only  love  men  enough  ;  your  heart  will  teU 
you  how  to  approach." 

Doubtless  some  of  Mr.  Beecher's  positions  in 
this  series  of  lectures  will  be  criticised.  I  am 
doubtful  whether  craniological  and  physiological 
aspects  are  as  sure  indications  of  character  as  he 
seems  to  think ;  they  did  not,  as  we  have  seen, 
prevent  him  from  falling  a  prey  to  designing  men. 
He  does  not  seem  to  me,  in  his  criticism  of  cere- 
monialism, to  allow  sufficiently  for  the  power  in  the 
people  of  the  imagination  which  he  lauds  in  the 
preacher.  Who  has  seen  a  Roman  Catholic  con- 
gregation bowing  at  the  elevation  of  the  Host,  and 
not  realized  their  imaginative  power  to  clothe  the 
Host  with  an  impalpable  and  invisible  personality  ? 
"W  ho  can  doubt  that  worshipers,  in  their  use  of  a 
liturgy,  are  enabled,  by  their  imagination,  to  see 
in  it  the  expression  of  the  penitence,  the  petitions, 
and  the  gratitude  of  those  whose  use  of  it  through 
centuries  of  devotion  has  impregnated  it  with  a 
spiritual  life  ?  The  administrator  of  such  a  liturgy 
is  more  than  an  "  engineer  who  runs  the  machine." 
A  part,  too,  of  these  counsels  will  possibly  appear 
to  the  modern  reader  commonplace.  He  will  say 
to  them  "  of  course."    But  they  were  not  common- 


366  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

place  thirty  years  ago.  They  were  radical  then.  It 
is  illustrative  of  the  power  of  Mr.  Beecher's  spirit 
that  the  methods  of  the  preacher  and  the  spirit  of 
the  pulpit  have  undergone  so  great  a  change  in  the 
last  haK  century.  It  is  less  ecclesiastical  and  more 
practical ;  it  is  less  theological  and  more  human ; 
it  is  less  devoted  to  building  up  a  system  and  more 
devoted  to  building  up  men  ;  there  is,  to  use  Mr. 
Beecher's  classification,  less  ecclesiastical  and  dog- 
matic preaching,  and  more  that  is  vital.  And  yet 
there  is  certainly  abundant  occasion  for  still  fur- 
ther improvement.  Whatever  preachers  may  think, 
most  laymen  will  agree  in  the  opinion  that  preach- 
ing would  receive  a  vast  accession  of  power  if 
preachers  generally  realized  that  sermons  are  only 
means  to  an  end,  that  every  sermon  should  be 
aimed  at  a  definite  result,  and  that  all  use  of  doc- 
trine, argument,  and  illustration,  all  questions  con- 
cerning rhetoric  and  style,  and  all  employment  of 
voice  and  gesture  should  be  determined  by  the 
consideration  how  best  to  produce  on  the  auditor 
a  definite  ethical  and  spiritual  result,  carefully 
planned  beforehand  by  the  preacher  as  the  sole 
object  of  his  sermon,  to  which  all  is  directed,  and 
by  which  all  is  shaped  and  patterned. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  give,  by  analysis,  any  con- 
ception of  the  second  series  of  lectures,  because, 
even  more  than  the  first,  their  value  lies  not  so 
much  in  principles  expounded,  or  practical  coun- 
sels given,  as  in  spiritual  life  imparted.  A  certain 
unreserve  was  one  of  the  elements  of  Mr.  Beecher's 


THE  YALE   LECTURES   ON  PREACHING  367 

power.  Like  Paul,  he  gave  frank  and  free  expres- 
sion to  his  own  personal  experiences,  whenever  he 
believed  their  disclosure  would  be  spiritually  help- 
ful to  those  who  were  looking  to  him  for  life.  This 
spiritual  freedom  is  a  marked  characteristic  of  the 
second  series  of  his  lectures  on  preaching.  A  single 
quotation  may  serve  at  once  to  illustrate  this  char- 
acteristic, and  to  indicate  to  the  reader  one  of  the 
hidden  sources,  perhaps  the  chief  source,  of  his 
extraordinary  power  in  the  pulpit :  — 

I  can  bear  this  witness,  that  never  in  the  study,  in 
the  most  absorbed  moments ;  never  on  the  street,  in 
those  chance  inspirations  that  everybody  is  subject  to, 
when  I  am  lifted  up  highest ;  never  in  any  company, 
where  friends  are  the  sweetest  and  dearest,  —  never  in 
any  circumstances  in  life  is  there  anything  that  is  to  me 
so  touching  as  when  I  stand,  in  ordinary  good  health, 
before  my  great  congregation  to  pray  for  them.  Hun- 
dreds and  hundreds  of  times,  as  I  rose  to  pray  and 
glanced  at  the  congregation,  I  could  not  keep  back  the 
tears.  There  came  to  my  mind  such  a  sense  of  their 
wants,  there  were  so  many  hidden  sorrows,  there  were 
so  many  weights  and  burdens,  there  were  so  many 
doubts,  there  were  so  many  states  of  weakness,  there 
were  so  many  dangers,  so  many  perils,  there  were  such 
histories,  —  not  world  histories,  but  eternal  world  his- 
tories,—  I  had  such  a  sense  of  compassion  for  them,  my 
soul  so  longed  for  them,  that  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  I 
could  scarcely  open  my  mouth  to  speak  for  them.  And 
when  I  take  my  people  and  carry  them  before  God  to 
plead  for  them,  I  never  plead  for  myself  as  I  do  for 
them,  —  I  never  could.  Indeed,  I  sometimes,  as  I  have 
said,  hardly  feel  as  if  I  had  anything  to  ask  ;  but  oh, 


368  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

when  I  know  what  is  going  on  in  the  heart  of  my  peo- 
ple, and  I  am  permitted  to  stand  to  lead  them,  to  in- 
spire their  thought  and  feeling,  and  go  into  the  presence 
of  God,  there  is  no  time  that  Jesus  is  so  crowned  with 
glory  as  then  !  There  is  no  time  that  I  ever  get  so  far 
into  heaven.  I  can  see  my  mother  there ;  I  see  again 
my  little  children ;  I  walk  again,  arm  in  arm  with  those 
who  have  been  my  companions  and  co-workers.  I  for- 
get the  body,  I  live  in  the  spirit ;  and  it  seems  as  if  God 
permitted  me  to  lay  my  hand  on  the  very  Tree  of  Life, 
and  to  shake  down  from  it  both  leaves  and  fruit  for  the 
healing  of  my  people ! 

This  personal  experience,  this  combination  of 
spiritual  vision  and  human  sympathy,  transfuses 
in  an  eminent  degree  the  second  volume  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  lectures  on  preaching.  It  cannot  be  inter- 
preted in  an  analysis ;  and  yet  without  it  the  ana- 
lysis is  to  the  original  lectures  what  a  pressed  and 
dried  flower,  its  fragrance  gone  and  its  colors 
dimmed,  is  to  the  original  living  flower  as  it  grows 
in  the  garden.  The  central  principle  of  the  volume, 
from  the  application  of  which  all  its  counsels  pro- 
ceed, is  that  the  object  of  the  ministry  is  the  pro- 
duction of  Christlikeness  of  character  in  man.  In 
choosing  the  field,  therefore,  the  mmister  is  to  go 
where  he  is  most  needed.  If  there  be  no  church, 
he  is  to  create  one  by  bringing  together  men  in 
the  religious  life  that  they  may  help  themselves, 
and  help  one  another  spiritually  through  their 
social  relations.  His  work  in  the  community  is  to 
be  primarily  spiritual ;  it  is  to  bring  upon  them 
the  inspiratiou  of  the  Holy  Ghost.    If  he  is  to  do 


THE  YALE   LECTURES  ON  PREACHING   369 

this,  his  ministry  must  be  a  prayerful  ministry.  If 
he  is  to  lift  others  up  into  the  presence  of  the  In- 
visible Father,  he  must  walk  m  that  presence  him- 
seK :  —  and  this  is  prayer.  He  must  promote  the 
spirit  of  prayer  in  the  church,  and  through  this  the 
prayer-meeting,  which  is  a  family  meeting  of  a  spir- 
itual household  in  spiritual  fellowship.  To  the  con- 
duct of  the  prayer-meeting  Mr.  Beecher  devotes 
two  lectures,  urging  its  value  and  giving  practical 
counsels  how  to  conduct  it.  The  same  spiritual 
quality  should  inhere  in  the  church  music ;  from 
the  opening  voluntary  to  the  end  it  should  be 
worshipfid.  In  this  music  the  whole  church  ought 
to  take  part,  because  the  whole  church  ought  to 
worship,  and  in  the  non-liturgical  churches  no  other 
congregational  worship  is  provided  but  that  through 
music. 

The  same  spirit  should  animate  the  preacher  in 
his  pastoral  work.  "  When  people  won't  come  to 
hear  you  preach,  do  you  go  and  talk  to  them ;  and 
when  they  do  come  to  hear  you,  and  you  have 
hardly  anything  to  preach  about,  then  go  to  them 
aU  the  more."  But  the  object  of  this  personal  vis- 
itation, of  the  social  gatherings  of  the  church,  and 
of  all  its  social  life,  should  not  be  mere  social  fellow- 
ship ;  it  should  be  the  development  in  men,  by  the 
social  life,  of  the  spiritual  qualities  of  faith  and  hope 
and  love.  This  spirit  is  to  be  carried  into  the  Sun- 
day-schools and  missions,  and  is  to  inspire  all  the 
various  forms  of  lay  activity.  The  world  will  never 
be  converted   to  Christ  by  ministers    alone  ;    the 


370  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

whole  church  must  become  a  working  church.  In 
this  work  of  the  church  revivals  are  not  only  to  be 
desired,  but  to  be  planned  for.  The  highest  ex- 
periences rarely  come  to  men  singly.  The  reviving 
of  the  entire  community  through  the  reviving  of 
the  church  is  not  only  as  legitimate  as  the  reviving 
of  the  individual,  but  often  the  best  way  of  securing 
the  individual  revival.  Such  revivals  are  subject  to 
law.  The  conditions  necessary  to  it,  the  methods  of 
promoting  it,  the  proper  way  to  conduct  it  so  as  to 
avoid  incidental  evils,  all  are  to  be  matter  of  care- 
ful study.  For  a  consideration  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
specific  counsels  respecting  the  conduct  of  prayer- 
meetings  and  the  promotion  of  revivals,  the  reader 
must  be  referred  to  the  volume.  Some  of  these 
counsels  are  inapplicable  to  the  pastors  of  liturgical 
churches ;  some  of  them  would  be  difficult  to  apply 
in  our  time.  I  think  Mr.  Beecher  himself  would 
have  laid,  in  his  later  life,  more  stress  on  the  pro- 
motion of  normal  and  unconscious  spiritual  develop- 
ment and  less  on  specific  methods  for  arousing  the 
spiritual  nature  through  social  cooperation.  But 
the  fundamental  principles  elucidated  in  this  vol- 
ume, and  still  more  the  spiritual  life  which  pervades 
it,  are  valuable  in  all  churches,  in  all  times,  and  in 
all  conmiunities. 

The  third  series  in  the  "  Yale  Lectures  on  Preach- 
ing "  deals  with  Christian  doctrine,  or  what  may 
be  called  applied  theology.  This  volume  seems 
to  me  the  least  distinctive  and  characteristic  of 
the  three.    It  deals  less  with  the  methods  of  the 


THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON  PREACHING  371 

preacher ;  it  is  less  personal  and  vital ;  there  is 
much  less  autobiographical  element  in  it.  He  hints 
at,  without  expounding,  the  modern  evolutionary- 
conception  of  the  Bible  as  a  progressive  revelation 
through  spiritual  experience.  He  bases  its  author- 
ity upon  the  fact  that  "  it  has  been  so  long  in  the 
world,  and  so  much  taught,  that  it  is  an  authority 
now  among  the  common  people,  certainly  through- 
out Christendom."  He  lays  stress  on  the  fact  that 
the  object  of  the  preacher  is  to  bring  man  into  per- 
sonal relations  with  God ;  for  this  purpose  he  must 
first  establish  God's  personality,  second,  illustrate 
his  disposition,  third,  develop  a  sense  of  his  pre- 
sence. He  shows  how  this  is  to  be  done  —  psycho- 
logically through  the  use  of  the  spiritual  imagina- 
tion, historically  through  the  revelation  of  God  in 
Jesus  Christ.  His  analysis  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
"  the  Divine  Life  in  human  conditions  "  is  suggest- 
ive, inspiring,  and  in  places  full  of  spiritual  beauty, 
but  does  not  compare  for  completeness  of  analysis 
with  Dr.  Bushnell's  famous  chapter  in  "  Nature 
and  the  Supernatural "  on  the  character  of  Jesus. 
He  lays  stress  on  the  reality  of  sinfulness,  as 
something  more  than  a  mere  multitude  of  individ- 
ual sins,  and  on  Christian  life  as  a  growth  embody- 
ing three  stages,  —  repentance,  conversion,  and 
sanctification  ;  and  he  sums  up  the  whole  teaching 
of  the  three  courses  in  one  sentence :  "  Our  high 
mission,  our  noble  calling,  is  to  build  up  souls,  to 
perfect  the  Christian  life,  and  to  make  manhood 
acceptable  to  God,  and  radiant  in  the  sight  of  all 


372  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Of  all  the  volumes  wKich  Mr.  Beecher  has  left  as 
his  bequest  to  the  world,  I  regard  the  "  Yale  Lec- 
tures on  Preaching  "  as  the  most  important,  and 
likely  to  be  the  most  permanent  in  their  direct  influ- 
ence upon  the  Church  of  Christ.  He  left  no  political 
writings  save  the  editorials  in  "  The  Independent." 
The  admirable  collection  of  addresses  on  political 
subjects,  gathered  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Howard,  are  chiefly 
valuable  as  a  contribution  to  the  history  of  a  great 
moral  reform,  to  the  accomplishment  of  which  Mr. 
Beecher  contributed  so  largely.  His  "  Life  of 
Christ "  he  did  not  complete.  It  is  beautiful  in  its 
expression,  and  spiritually  suggestive  in  its  thoughts, 
but  Mr.  Beecher  wiU  not  be  known  to  the  future 
as  a  great  historian.  "  Norwood  "  contains  graphic, 
vivid  pictures  of  New  England  life,  but  no  one 
would  think  of  calling  Mr.  Beecher  a  great  novelist. 
His  "  Lectures  to  Young  Men  "  belong  to  the  ear- 
lier epoch  in  his  ministry,  and  though  wonderfully 
effective  then,  would  not  be  equally  effective  now. 
His  sermons,  preached  for  immediate  effect,  are,  as 
he  intended  they  should  be,  sermons,  not  literature, 
stiU  less  theology.  His  "  Star  Papers  "  and  his 
"  Pleasant  Talks  about  Fruits,  Flowers,  and  Farm- 
ing "  are  literary  recreations.  Not  as  an  author, 
historian,  or  reformer  will  he  be  known  to  history, 
but  as  the  great  preacher  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
—  certainly  without  a  superior,  if  not  without  a 
peer.  In  the  "  Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching "  he 
formulates  the  principles  which  guided  him  in  his 
ministry,  and,  what  is  more  important,  reveals  with 


THE  YALE  LECTURES  ON  PREACHING  373 

modest,  unconscious  candor  the  spirit  which  ani- 
mated him.  Some  of  his  counsels  may  have  be- 
come inapplicable,  with  the  change  of  conditions  ; 
his  unconventionalism  will  repel  those  who  are  sen- 
sitive to  conventional  proprieties  ;  and  I  cannot  but 
wish  that  it  had  been  consistent  with  his  tempera- 
ment to  give  to  these  volumes,  before  his  death,  a 
thorough  and  painstaking  revision  ;  but  I  do  not 
know  in  the  whole  range  of  homiletical  literature 
any  other  volumes  as  well  worth  careful  study  by 
any  man  of  our  time  who  wishes  to  understand  the 
secret  of  pulpit  power,  and  who  is  sufficiently  cath- 
olic in  his  disposition,  whatever  his  denomination 
may  be,  to  take  that  secret  from  one  whom  history 
will  regard  as  perhaps  the  most  powerful  preacher 
in  American  history,  if  not  also  in  the  history  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  people. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

HE   FINISHES   HIS   COURSE 

In  the  spring  of  1886  Mr.  Beecher  yielded  to  the 
urgency  of  Major  Pond,  and  consented  to  revisit 
England  on  a  lecture  tour.  The  twenty-three 
years  which  had  elapsed  since  his  first  campaign 
had  converted  distrust  into  confidence  and  aversion 
into  enthusiasm.  When  the  steamer  reached 
Queenstown,  the  mail  brought  hosts  of  requests  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  for  sermons  and  lectures. 
When  Mr.  Beecher  landed  at  Liverpool  delegates 
from  Bradford,  Leeds,  York,  Carnarvon,  Manches- 
ter, Edinburgh,  Belfast,  and  Dublin  were  there  to 
welcome  the  speaker  who  had  found  so  much 
difficulty  in  winning  a  hearing  in  1863.  In  the 
fifteen  and  a  half  weeks  between  the  24th  of 
July  and  the  1st  of  October  Mr.  Beecher  preached 
seventeen  times,  delivered  fifty-eight  lectures  and 
nine  public  addresses :  his  entire  visit  was  a  series 
of  public  ovations.  Of  his  addresses  probably  the 
most  important  were,  one  delivered  in  the  City 
Temple  on  Friday  morning,  October  15,  to  the 
theological  students  in  the  city  of  London,  about 
six  hundred  students  and  about  as  many  clergy- 
men of  different  denominations  being  present,  in 
which  he  declared  his  convictions  concerning  the 


HE  FINISHES  HIS  COURSE  375 

secret  of  pulpit  power ;  one  delivered  before  the 
Freedman's  Aid  Society  Mission  at  Westminster 
Chapel  on  October  16,  in  which  he  presented  with 
characteristic  hopefulness  his  views  concerning  the 
character,  progress,  and  future  of  the  negroes  ;  and 
one  delivered  on  October  18  before  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  at  Liverpool,  which  was  largely  a  con- 
fession of  his  religious  faith,  in  which  he  reaffirmed, 
in  the  strongest  terms,  his  faith  in  the  divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  central  truth  in  his  theology. 

From  this  European  trip  Mr.  Beecher  returned 
in  the  fall  of  1886,  refreshed  and  reinvigorated  by 
his  summer's  experience  of  lecturing,  preaching, 
and  visiting.  Landing  on  Sunday  morning  too 
late  to  preach,  he  visited,  in  the  afternoon,  each  one 
of  the  three  Sunday-schools  connected  with  Ply- 
mouth Church.  Early  in  December  his  wife  was 
taken  seriously  ill,  and  for  six  weeks  he  sedulously 
tended  her  as  nurse,  accepting  from  other  members 
of  the  family  only  such  assistance  as  was  indis- 
pensable. With  her  returning  health,  he  began  to 
make  preparations  for  completing  the  unfinished 
"Life  of  Christ,"  and  promised  when  this  was 
done  to  undertake  his  autobiography.  To  Dr. 
Joseph  Parker,  of  London,  he  wrote  :  "  I  have  my 
snug  room  upstairs,  and  am  working  cosily  and 
every  day  on  my  '  Life  of  Christ,'  which,  like 
the  buds  of  spring,  is  beginning  to  swell,  like 
the  returning  birds,  is  beginning  to  sing,  like  the 
grass,  is  beginning  to  grow,  and  is  already  very 
green !  But  I  am  hopeful."  He  refused  all  lecture 


376  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

engagements,  that  he  might  devote  himself  to  the 
completion  of  this  literary  task.  But  it  was  not 
to  be  completed. 

Sunday  evening,  February  27,  1887,  was  the 
last  service  Mr.  Beecher  ever  attended  in  Ply- 
mouth Church.  It  was  remembered  afterwards  that 
he  lingered  for  a  few  moments  at  the  close  of 
the  service  listening  to  the  choir  as  they  prac- 
ticed a  new  musical  setting  by  Mr.  H.  E.  Shelley, 
the  organist  of  the  church,  to  Faber's  "  Hark, 
hark,  my  soul,  angelic  songs  are  swelling,"  and 
that  as  he  started  to  go  out  he  remarked,  "  That 
will  do  to  die  on."  "  Will  it  not  do  to  live 
on,  Mr.  Beecher  ?  "  asked  a  friend  at  his  side. 
"  That  is  the  way  to  die,"  said  he  quickly.  As  he 
passed  out  he  saw  standing  by  the  furnace  register, 
to  warm  themselves,  a  little  girl  about  ten  years 
old  and  her  brother,  only  five  years  old,  who  had 
for  some  weeks  been  in  the  habit  of  going  alone  to 
the  church  on  Sunday  evenings.  Putting  his  hand 
on  the  little  boy's  head,  he  stooped  and  kissed  him, 
saying,  "  It  is  a  cold  night  for  such  little  tots  to 
be  out."  The  children,  attracted  by  his  kindness, 
walked  out  on  either  side  of  him  to  the  door.  "  It 
was,"  said  Dr.  Charles  H.  HaU,  in  the  funeral 
sermon,  "  a  fitting  close  to  a  grand  life,  —  the  old 
man  of  genius  and  fame  shielding  the  little  wan- 
derers, —  great  in  breasting  tradition  always  and 
prejudices,  great  also  in  the  gesture,  so  like  him, 
that  recognized,  as  did  the  Master,  that  the  hum- 
blest and  the  poorest  were  his  brethren,  the  great 


HE  FINISHES   HIS  COURSE  377 

preacher  led  out  into  the  night  by  little  nameless 
waifs." 

On  Wednesday  evening,  March  2,  after  a  fuU 
day  of  shopping  with  his  wife,  for  some  refurnish- 
ing of  the  parlors  of  the  church,  and  a  short  even- 
ing of  recreation  with  the  family,  he  retired  earlier 
than  usual,  and  when  a  little  later  Mrs.  Beecher 
went  upstairs  she  found  him  already  apparently 
soundly  sleeping.  Early  the  next  morning  she  was 
awakened  from  her  sleep  by  an  unusual  sound  in 
her  husband's  room,  ran  to  his  side,  and  found  him 
suffering  from  nausea.  To  her  inquiry  as  to  the 
matter,  he  replied,  "  Nothing  but  a  sick  headache," 
and  dropped  almost  instantly  to  sleep  again.  He 
slept  through  the  following  day.  Not  until  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  was  the  physician  sent  for. 
An  effort  was  made  to  arouse  Mr.  Beecher  from 
his  sleep  ;  the  response  was  brief  and  broken ;  and 
the  doctor's  conclusion  was  soon  reached:  Mr. 
Beecher  was  dying  of  apoplexy.  The  end  came  on 
Tuesday  morning,  at  half-past  nine  o'clock,  the 
8th  of  March,  1887. 

The  first  Sunday  in  the  month  was  the  one  on 
which  the  Lord's  Supper  was  always  administered 
in  Plymouth  Church.  The  service  was  held ;  but 
the  sermon  was  omitted,  and  the  hour  was  de- 
voted to  the  administration  of  the  communion,  the 
great  congregation  breaking  in  upon  the  hush  of 
this  solemn  service  with  many  sobs.  On  Sun- 
day, Monday,  Tuesday,  and  Wednesday  evenings 
prayer-meetings  were    held    in    the   lecture-room, 


378  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

participated  in  by  various  members  of  the  churcli. 
It  was  afterwards  noted  as  a  significant  fact  that  no 
one  prayed,  even  in  the  earlier  meetings,  for  the  pas- 
tor's recovery ;  it  was  accepted  by  all  as  a  fact  unal- 
terable, that  the  time  of  his  going  home  had  come  ; 
and  not  one  of  those  who  loved  him  would  have 
called  him  back.  During  Thursday  the  coffin  lay 
in  Plymouth  Church,  and  all  day  long  from  half- 
past  eleven  in  the  morning  until  ten  at  night  the 
citizens  of  Brooklyn  moved  in  quiet  and  orderly 
procession  by  the  coffin,  to  look  upon  his  face  for 
the  last  time,  while  simple  music  was  furnished, 
sometimes  by  the  organ,  sometimes  by  the  voices 
of  singers.  Members  of  the  church  and  personal 
friends  sat  scattered  through  the  edifice,  engaged  in 
silent  prayer  or  in  sacred  meditation,  or,  in  subdued 
tones,  exchanging  reminiscences.  There  had  long 
been  an  understanding  between  Mr.  Beecher  and 
the  Rev.  Charles  H.  Hall,  rector  of  Trinity  Church, 
that,  whoever  should  die  first,  the  other  should 
officiate  at  the  funeral.  In  accordance  with  this 
understanding,  the  public  services,  held  on  Friday, 
were  conducted  by  Dr.  Hall.  The  public  offices 
in  Brooklyn  were  closed,  by  direction  of  the  city 
government;  the  public  and  private  schools  were 
dismissed  ;  and  business  was  very  generally  sus- 
pended during  the  funeral  services.  Not  only 
Plymouth  Church  itself,  but  four  other  churches  in 
the  vicinity,  were  crowded  with  mourners. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  death  ever  produced 
more  widespread  expressions  of  sorrow  throughout 


HE  FINISHES  HIS  COURSE  379 

the  country  —  certain  that  the  death  of  no  private 
citizen  was  ever  made  occasion  for  so  many  and  so 
varied  memorial  services,  addresses,  and  editorials. 
In  churches  representing  every  phase  of  religious 
faith,  Mr.  Beecher's  death  was  mentioned  in  prayer 
or  sermon ;  by  associations  of  every  description, 
secular  and  religious,  resolutions  to  his  memory 
were  passed ;  in  every  type  of  journal,  from  that 
devoted  to  recreation  or  agriculture  to  that  voicing 
the  sentiment  of  the  most  conservative  of  the  re- 
ligious schools,  some  recognition  of  his  service  to 
his  age  and  nation  was  to  be  foimd.  The  New 
York  Legislature  adjourned  that  its  members 
might  attend  the  funeral  service,  and  both  the 
Senate  and  the  Assembly  passed  resolutions  of 
respect  to  his  memory.  Similar  resolutions  were 
passed  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the  city  of 
Brooklyn,  who  directed  that  appropriate  emblems 
of  mourning  should  be  displayed  on  the  City  Hall 
until  after  the  funeral.  A  type  and  symbol  of  this 
universal  appreciation  was  furnished  by  the  me- 
morial service  held  in  Plymouth  Church  the  Sab- 
bath evening  after  his  death,  participated  in  by 
representative  speakers  from  the  Unitarian,  the 
Presbyterian,  the  Lutheran,  the  New  Jerusalem, 
the  Universalist,  the  Methodist,  the  Baptist,  the 
Befomied,  the  Episcopal,  and  the  Congregational 
churches,  and  a  Jewish  synagogue,  and  by  a  letter 
from  a  Roman  Catholic  priest.  Two  weeks  later 
a  union  memorial  service  of  the  African  churches 
of  Brooklyn  was  held  in  the  African  Methodist 


380  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Episcopal  Church  of  the  city.  Nor  were  these 
memorials  confined  to  Brooklyn.  From  churches 
and  synagogues  all  over  the  country,  North  and 
South,  East  and  West,  from  abroad  also,  from 
churches  in  London  and  Liverpool,  from  white 
and  colored,  from  Americans  and  foreigners,  from 
ministerial  gatherings,  political  bodies,  both  Re- 
publican and  Democratic,  college  associations,  mil- 
itary organizations,  and  social  clubs,  came  to  Ply- 
mouth Church  formal  expressions  of  respect  for 
Mr.  Beecher  and  of  sympathy  for  his  church  in 
its  sorrow.  One  of  the  most  touching  of  these  was 
a  resolution  spontaneously  adopted  by  the  news- 
boys of  Brooklyn  at  their  services  in  the  Newsboys' 
Home. 

These  expressions  of  affection  were  not  confined 
to  the  time  of  his  death.  While  the  multitude 
were  still  filing  past  the  dead  in  Plymouth  Church, 
the  suggestion  was  made  that  a  statue  should  be 
erected  by  citizens  of  Brooklyn  to  his  memory.  In 
less  than  two  weeks  after  his  death,  a  meeting  of 
citizens  was  held  to  forward  this  movement,  and  it 
was  so  largely  attended  that  many  were  unable  to 
gain  admittance  to  the  room.  The  money  for  the 
purpose  was  easily  obtained,  —  rather  it  should  be 
said,  was  spontaneously  offered,  —  and  in  June, 
1891,  the  statue,  designed  by  J.  Q.  A.  Ward,  was 
erected  in  City  Hall  Square,  facing  the  building 
where  he  had  been  put  on  trial  as  for  his  life,  and 
remaining  there  a  perpetual  witness  to  the  judgment 
of  the  citizens  of  Brooklyn  between  him  and  his 


HE  FINISHES  HIS   COURSE  381 

accusers.  Shortly  after  Mr.  Beecher's  death,  the 
Kev.  S.  B.  Halliday,  who  for  seventeen  years  had 
been  Mr.  Beecher's  assistant,  and  to  whose  loyal 
service,  taking  from  the  great  preacher's  mind 
the  administrative  details  of  the  great  church,  Mr. 
Beecher's  freedom  for  the  larger  public  service  was 
not  inconsiderably  due,  resigned  his  position  to  take 
charge  of  a  smaU  Congregational  church  in  the  out- 
skirts of  Brooklyn,  the  services  of  which  were  held 
in  a  vacant  store  on  Fulton  Street,  small,  ill-venti- 
lated, and  poorly  lighted.  He  gave  to  this  church 
its  new  name,  "  The  Beecher  Memorial  Church," 
and  in  1891  an  adequate  structure  had  been  raised 
at  a  cost  of  twenty-six  thousand  dollars,  which  on 
the  18th  of  October  of  that  year  was  dedicated.  It 
was  more  than  in  name  a  memorial  to  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.  Means  for  its  construction  had  been 
given  by  Presbyterians,  Universalists,  Orthodox, 
Liberals,  and  Jews.  Contributions  had  been  re- 
ceived from  every  state  and  territory  in  the  coun- 
try and  also  from  Canada,  England,  Scotland, 
Wales,  Sweden,  Denmark,  South  America,  China, 
and  India,  almost  all  of  them  in  smaU  amounts. 
Eight  months  after  the  dedication  the  last  dollar 
of  debt  upon  the  building  was  paid,  and  the 
church,  still  in  successful  operation,  is  a  monument 
alike  to  the  fidelity  of  Mr.  Beecher's  life-long 
friend,  Mr.  HaUiday,  and  to  the  spontaneous  in- 
terest throughout  the  world  which  men  of  moder- 
ate means  felt  in  doing  something  to  perpetuate 
the  name  of  one  who  had  rendered  them  spiritual 


V 


382  HENKY  WARD  BEECHER 

service.  Nor  is  this  the  only  church  which  at  least 
indirectly  perpetuates  the  memory  of  the  great 
preacher.  The  Congregational  Yearbook  records 
fifty-two  churches  bearing  the  name  Plymouth 
Church,  —  the  name  borrowed  from  the  church 
which  Mr.  Beecher  founded,  the  churches,  let  us 
hope,  having  imbibed  something  of  its  spirit.  In 
that  church  itself  his  name  is  commemorated  by  a 
remarkable  portrait  of  life  size,  in  the  lecture-room, 
placed  as  nearly  as  possible  on  the  spot  where  he 
used  to  sit  in  giving  his  "  Lecture-Eoom  Talks," 
and  by  a  tablet  in  the  vestibule  of  the  church  con- 
taining his  portrait  in  bas-relief,  with  the  simple  in- 
scription, *'  In  Memoriam.  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
First  Pastor  of  Plymouth  Church,  1847-1887.  I 
have  not  concealed  thy  lovingkindness  and  thy 
truth  from  the  great  congregation."  At  the  pre- 
sent writing,  the  summer  of  1903,  a  further  move- 
ment has  been  initiated  by  the  present  pastor  of 
Plymouth  Church,  the  Rev.  Newell  Dwight  Hillis, 
D.  D.,  for  a  larger  memorial  to  the  great  preacher. 
The  Henry  Ward  Beecher  Memorial  Association 
of  Brooklyn  has  been  organized  and  incorporated ; 
ground  has  been  purchased  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  Plymouth  Church  ;  and  it  is  proposed  to 
erect  thereon  a  memorial  hall  for  the  preservation 
of  material  relating  to  the  life  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  and  other  members  of  the  Beecher  family, 
and  to  provide  in  connection  therewith  a  library, 
reading-room,  music-room,  and  amusement-room. 
For  this  purpose  over  fifty  thousand  dollars  have 


HE  FINISHES  HIS  COURSE  383 

already  been  subscribed,  a  large  portion  of  it  by- 
citizens  having  no  connection  with  Plymouth 
Church. 

But  next  to  that  impalpable  influence  which 
goes  on  through  eternity  with  infinite  increase,  the 
most  vital  memorial  to  Mr.  Beecher  is  the  church 
which  he  founded  and  inspired  with  his  life.  Those 
who  imagined  that  Plymouth  Church  was  gathered 
around  and  held  together  by  the  eloquence  of  a 
great  orator,  naturally  surmised  that  the  congrega- 
tion would  disappear  and  the  church  dissolve  when 
the  orator  died.  They  little  understood  the  nature 
of  its  work  and  the  permanency  of  his  influence. 
When,  in  the  faU  of  1887,  I  was  called  to  supply 
the  pulpit  left  vacant  by  Mr.  Beecher's  death,  I 
found  a  greatly  diminished  congregation.  Strangers 
no  longer  flocked  to  the  edifice.  The  audience, 
which  under  Mr.  Beecher's  preaching  had  num- 
bered from  twenty-five  hundred  to  tln?ee  thousand, 
was  reduced  to  something  like  half  that  number. 
But  it  was  only  the  strangers  who  had  ceased  to 
come.  Not  a  single  eminent  member  of  the  church 
had  withdrawn.  The  pewholders,  with  few  excep- 
tions, pledged  to  the  church  a  renewal  of  their 
pew-rents  at  the  old  rate  for  the  succeeding  year. 
The  Sunday-schools  were  oflicered  as  efficiently  as 
they  had  been  the  fall  before  with  Mr.  Beecher 
living.  Some  members  who  had  never  felt  that 
the  church  had  need  of  them  had  emerged  from 
their  retirement  and  assumed  active  service  in  the 
prayer-meeting   or   the    Sunday-schools.     A   new 


384  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

organization  had  been  formed  within  the  church  for 
the  purpose  of  enlisting  the  active  cooperation  of 
all  the  members,  and  had  efficiently  entered  upon 
its  varied  activities.  It  was  apparent  that  the  pews 
could  no  longer  be  sold  at  auction,  apparent  that 
there  would  no  longer  be  premiiuns  paid  for  the 
pews  on  which  the  trustees  could  draw,  as  they 
had  done  during  Mr.  Beecher's  lifetime,  for  the 
support  of  the  missions.  But  the  church  had  no 
thought  of  abandoning  or  even  lessening  its  work. 
It  assumed  the  expense  which  the  trustees  had 
hitherto  borne.  It  organized  an  envelope  fund, 
and  by  means  of  this  envelope  fund,  to  which  every 
member  was  invited  to  contribute,  and  by  means 
of  a  system  of  plate  collections  which  had  never 
before  been  instituted,  enough  money  was  raised 
to  carry  on  and  considerably  enlarge  the  parish 
work  in  which  Plymouth  Church  had  been  en- 
gaged. Nor  was  this  the  result  of  a  mere  transient 
enthusiasm.  The  last  report  of  the  committee 
which  has  this  work  in  charge  shows  a  receipt 
from  the  envelope  fund  and  the  plate  collections 
of  over  ten  thousand  dollars  for  this  mission  work 
of  Plymouth  Church  in  the  city  of  Brookl^m.  Nor 
is  it  only  these  financial  results  which  testify  to 
the  continued  efficiency  of  the  church.  During  the 
ten  years  which  elapsed  between  the  death  of  Mr. 
Beecher  and  the  semi-centennial  of  PljTnouth 
Church  in  1897,  the  additions  on  confession  of 
faith  were  but  httle  less  annually  than  they  had 
been  during  Mr.  Beecher's  pastorate.    A  conclusive 


I 


HE   FINISHES   HIS   COURSE  385 

answer  to  the  charge  sometimes  brought,  once 
through  jealousy,  now  through  ignorance,  that  Mr. 
Beecher's  preaching  promoted  hero-worship,  not 
the  worship  of  God,  the  following  of  a  preacher, 
not  the  following  of  Christ,  an  ephemeral  emotion- 
alism, not  a  life-enduring  principle,  is  furnished 
by  the  church  which  he  gathered  by  his  influence 
and  inspired  with  his  spirit,  —  a  church  through 
the  doors  of  which  in  fifty  years  thirty-six  hundred 
and  thirty-three  came  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  — 
a  church  in  which,  fifteen  years  after  its  great 
preacher's  death,  a  congregation  of  nearly  or  quite 
two  thousand  worshipers  gathers  every  Sunday 
morning,  —  a  church  in  the  three  Sunday-schools  of 
which  are  still  gathered  every  Sunday  afternoon 
a  thousand  scholars  studying  the  Bible,  — a  church 
which,  ten  years  after  Mr.  Beecher's  death,  on  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  day  of  its  organization,  had 
every  class  in  its  three  Sunday-schools  supplied 
with  teachers,  and  there  was  in  addition  a  waiting- 
list  of  volunteers  ready  to  respond  to  any  call  for 
additional  service. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

ESTIMATES    AND    IMPRESSIONS 

From  1855  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Beeeher's  death  in 
1887,  except  for  the  five  years  which  included  the 
Civil  War,  I  was  in  constant  communication,  and 
much  of  the  time  in  intimate  association  with  him. 
In  this  chapter  I  propose  to  give  some  personal  esti- 
mates, the  result  of  that  fellowship,  and  illustrated 
by  some  reminiscent  incidents. 

During  most  of  his  life  Mr.  Beecher  was  engaged 
in  warfare  of  one  sort  or  another.  He  was  con- 
stantly attacking  what  he  regarded  as  abuses,  — 
social,  political,  religious  ;  and  he  was  constantly 
under  attack  for  what  others  regarded  as  social, 
poHtical,  and  religious  errors  in  his  teaching.  The 
natural  consequence  was  that  in  his  lifetime  many 
false  estimates  of  his  character  and  few  correct 
ones  were  made.  His  enemies  exaggerated  his 
faults  and  depreciated,  if  they  did  not  absolutely 
deny,  his  virtues.  As  an  almost  necessary  conse- 
quence, his  friends  were  inclined  to  exaggerate  his 
excellences  and  to  ignore,  if  not  to  deny,  his  de- 
fects. In  battle  no  loyal  soldier  criticises  his  general ; 
loyalty  prevented  Mr.  Beecher's  friends  and  sup- 
porters from  criticising  their  leader.  In  such  a  case 
the  errors  on  the  one  side  are  not  corrected  by  the 


ESTIMATES   AND   IMPRESSIONS  387 

errors  on  the  other.  On  the  contrary,  the  estimates  of 
both  friends  and  foes  are  apt  to  agree  in  statement, 
although  antagonistic  in  their  animus  and  spirit. 

Thus  it  had  been  said  by  both  critics  and  ad- 
mirers, though  with  a  very  different  meaning,  that 
Mr.  Beecher  would  have  made  a  great  actor,  a  great 
lawyer,  a  gi-eat  politician,  a  great  author,  a  great 
editor.  What  education  might  have  made  of  him 
no  man  can  tell ;  but  take  him  for  what  he  was,  he 
would  not  have  made  a  great  actor,  because  he  could 
not  deliberately  assume  a  part ;  nor  a  great  lawyer, 
because  he  could  not  advocate  any  convictions  not 
independently  his  own ;  nor  a  great  politician,  be- 
cause he  did  not  read  character  correctly,  being  too 
much  possessed  by  the  spirit  which  "  thinketh  no 
evil ;  "  nor  a  great  author,  because  he  was  not  inter- 
ested in  art  for  art's  sake  ;  in  what  sense  he  was  a 
gre^t  editor  1  have  already  considered.^ 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Beecher's  interests  were  ex- 
traordinarily varied,  and  his  knowledge  multiform. 
He  was  an  expert  in  horticulture,  arboriculture, 
precious  stones,  Turkish  and  Persian  rugs,  —  and 
in  how  many  other  things  I  know  not.  He  was  a 
judge  of  horses,  and  was  very  fond  of  a  good  one. 
When  I  was  starting  out  in  search  of  a  parish  he 
gave  me  this  advice  :  "  Look  at  the  horses  in  every 
town  you  go  to.  If  the  men  drive  good  horses,  you 
may  expect  that  there  is  progress,  or  at  least  life 
in  the  town  ;  if  they  drive  poor  ones,  the  people 
are  probably  inert  and  lazy."  The  remark  indi- 
1  See  chapter  xvi.  pp.  338,  342,  344. 


388  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

cates  the  nature  of  his  interest.  Whatever  the 
subject,  it  invariably  led  him  somehow  to  men, 
their  character,  their  life,  and  the  best  way  of 
reaching  them  with  the  offer  of  the  higher  life. 
This  fact  was  not  always  recognized  by  undiscrim- 
inating  admirers,  who,  from  the  variety  of  his  in- 
terests, drew  the  conclusion  that  he  would  have 
excelled  in  all  departments.  But  though  interest 
is  necessary  to  excellence,  excellence  is  not  created 
alone  by  interest.  I  found  Mr.  Beecher  once, 
shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  deep  in 
Sherman's  "  March  to  the  Sea."  To  my  expression 
of  surprise,  —  for  he  was  not  merely  reading,  he 
was  studying  it  in  detail  with  war-maps,  —  he  re- 
plied, "  Do  you  know,  if  I  were  not  a  preacher,  I 
would  choose  to  be  a  general  above  anything  else." 
But  I  did  not  take  the  expression  seriously,  and 
I  do  not  think  he  did  —  except  for  the  moment.  I 
am  certain  he  would  have  made  a  poor  general. 
The  jeweler  who,  apropos  of  Mr.  Beecher's  love 
for  precious  stones,  said  that  he  would  have  made 
a  splendid  salesman,  was  mistaken.  True,  he  loved 
and  understood  precious  stones,  but  he  woidd  never 
have  cared  to  sell  them.  His  interest  in  farming 
did  not  make  him  a  successful  farmer.  When 
some  critic  attempted  to  arouse  prejudice  against 
him  as  a  wealthy  preacher  who  owned  and  carried 
on  a  farm  of  ten  acres  on  the  Hudson,  he  replied 
that  if  an  enemy  should  give  him  ten  more  acres 
he  would  be  bankrupted. 

Varied  as  were  his  talents,  kaleidoscopic  as  was 


ESTIMATES   AND   IMPRESSIONS  389 

his  mind,  universal  as  were  his  interests,  he  gave 
himself  to  one  work  with  a  singleness  of  aim  which 
I  have  never  seen  paralleled  in  any  man  of  my 
acquaintance  except  Phillips  Brooks.  Their  aims 
were  different :  Mr.  Beecher's  broader  and  more 
comprehensive  ;  Phillips  Brooks's  more  exclusively 
individual  and  spiritual.  Phillips  Brooks  was  purely 
a  preacher.  His  one  aim  in  life  was  to  impart  life. 
He  believed  correctly  that  he  could  do  this  best  by 
the  free  use  of  his  own  personality  in  the  pulpit. 
When  he  spoke  on  the  platform  or  after  a  public 
dinner,  he  made  the  platform  or  the  table  a  pulpit ; 
his  address  was  a  sermon ;  his  audience  a  congre- 
gation. For  a  little  time  in  Philadelphia  he  took 
an  active  part  in  public  questions,  but  after  he 
went  to  Boston  he  was  not  active  as  a  public 
teacher  on  social  or  political  problems.  This  was 
not  because  he  had  lost  his  interest  in  them,  or  his 
acquaintance  with  them,  but  because  he  believed 
he  couhl  render  his  best  service  to  the  age  by 
preaching  :  to  preaching  accordingly  he  gave  him- 
self with  entire  singleness  of  purpose.  That  he 
could  write  true  poetry  was  proved  by  "  O  Little 
Town  of  Bethlehem."  That  he  had  a  large  know- 
ledge of  architecture  and  a  remarkably  creative 
as  well  as  appreciative  taste,  is  proved  by  Trinity 
Church,  into  which  he  put  himself  as  truly  as  he 
put  himself  into  his  sermons.  That  he  would  have 
made  valuable  contributions  to  periodical  litera- 
ture, if  he  could  have  been  persuaded  to  accept  the 
numerous  and  urgent  invitations  which  poured  in 


390  HENRY  WARD   BEKCHER 

ui3on  him,  that  as  a  lecturer  he  would  have  been 
in  great  demand,  had  he  consented  to  go  upon  the 
lyceum  platform,  no  one  who  knew  hhn  doubts. 
He  refused  because  he  was  resolved  to  devote  him- 
self wholly  to  preaching.  Even  as  bishop  his  great 
work  was  as  an  itinerant  preacher. 

Mr.  Beecher's  estimate  of  his  own  function  was 
a  broader  one,  but  it  was  not  less  clearly  conceived, 
nor  followed  with  less  single-heartedness.  That 
function  was  to  impart  spiritual  life,  but  it  was 
also  to  instruct  in  the  application  of  the  principles 
of  spiritual  life  to  all  the  various  problems,  both  of 
personal  experience  and  of  social  order.  His  great- 
ness consisted  in  his  instinctive  perception  of  moral 
principles,  in  his  practical  common  sense  in  the 
application  of  those  principles  to  current  questions 
of  human  experience,  and  in  his  varied  literary  and 
oratorical  ability  in  so  presenting  those  principles 
as  not  only  to  win  for  them  the  assent  of  all  sorts 
of  men,  but  also  to  inspire  in  all  sorts  of  men  a 
genuine  loyalty  to  those  principles.  He  understood 
himself  better  than  some  of  his  friends  and  his 
eulogists  understood  him.  To  this  one  work  of  so 
inspiring,  guiding,  and  dominating  the  lives  of  men 
as  to  direct  them  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  he 
gave  himself  with  absolute  singleness  of  aim,  and, 
after  he  had  fairly  got  an  understanding  of  him- 
self and  his  work,  with  undeviating  purpose.  He 
preached,  he  lectured,  he  spoke  on  political  plat- 
forms ;  he  wrote,  and  on  all  subjects,  social  and 
individual,  grave   and  gay,  secular  and  religious. 


ESTIMATES   AND   IMPRESSIONS  391 

But  always  back  of  his  work,  inspiring  it,  con- 
trolling it,  determining  his  choice  between  different 
phases  of  it,  was  the  ambition,  —  if  anything  so 
unegoistic  can  be  called  an  ambition,  —  the  pur- 
pose, —  if  anything  so  unconscious  can  be  called  a 
purpose,  —  to  help  men  to  a  happier,  a  better, 
a  diviner  life.  And  in  his  estimate  divineness  of 
spirit  was  of  transcendently  greater  importance 
than  conformity  to  ethical  standards,  and  both 
were  superior  to  mere  happiness.  His  intuitive 
nature  would  have  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
accept  the  utilitarian  philosophy.  Preaching,  there- 
fore, in  the  narrower  sense  of  that  term,  as  a  her- 
alding of  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  God  and  Saviour  of 
man,  always  took  the  first  place,  though  not  the 
sole  place,  in  his  relative  estimate  of  opportunities. 
I  can  best  illustrate  his  comparative  estimate  of 
lecturing  and  preaching  by  quoting  one  of  half  a 
dozen  similar  letters  sent  by  him  to  Major  J.  B. 
Pond :  — 

Bkooklyn,  N.  Y,,  124  Columbia  HeightSj 

February  22,  1883. 

My  dear  Poxd  :  —  I  am  sorry  that  Suffield  should 
suffer,  —  but  it  can't  be  helped.  All  the  cities  on  the 
continent  are  not  to  me  of  as  much  value  as  my  church 
and  its  work,  and  when  a  deepening  religious  feeling  is 
evident,  to  go  off  lecturing  and  leave  it  would  be  too 
outrageous  to  be  thought  of.  No  —  No.  Never  —  now 
or  hereafter  —  will  I  let  lecturing  infringe  on  home 
work!  The  next  week  is  already  arranged.  Several 
neighboring  clergymen  are  engaged  to  aid,  and  from 
Sunday  to  Saturday  every  night  is  allotted.    I  take  two, 


392  HENRY  WARD   BEECHP:R 

—  Monday  and  Tuesday, — and  cannot  be  altered.  I 
do  not  know  how  it  will  he  in  March.  If  thin<rs  in  the 
church  should  prosper,  I  will  not  go  out,  at  least  till 
May,  but  I  cannot  tell. 

Yours, 

Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

It  is  difficult  and  perhaps  hazardous  to  speculate 
on  the  motives  which  inspire  men,  and  yet  such  a 
character-study  as  this  would  be  inadequate  with- 
out a  consideration  of  the  motives  which  dominated 
Mr.  Beecher.  He  was  almost  absolutely  indiffer- 
ent to  money.  He  did  not  care  for  it  himself  ;  he 
did  not  reverence  it  in  others.  When  in  a  widely 
misquoted  address  he  said,  apropos  of  certain  phases 
of  the  labor  problem,  that  he  could  live  on  bread 
and  water,  he  spoke  the  simple  truth.  This  was 
not  because  he  was  an  ascetic.  He  enjoyed  the 
comforts  and  even  the  luxuries  of  life.  We  had 
an  editorial  dinner  at  Delmonico's  one  spring  day 
in  1879  ;  Mr.  Lawson  Valentine,  then  one  of  the 
largest  stockholders  in  "  The  Christian  Union,"  tele- 
graphed the  office  :  "  I  like  your  Delmonico.  Keep 
at  work  on  this  line  all  summer  ;  "  and  got  from 
Mr.  Beecher  a  reply  equally  laconic  :  "  You  are 
not  the  only  fellow  that  likes  Delmonico.  We  are 
willing  to  patronize  him  all  sununer  if  you  will  pay 
the  bill."  He  enjoyed  good  living,  though  rather 
for  the  social  pleasures  such  occasions  afforded  than 
for  any  mere  epicurean  enjoyment.  Much  more 
than  sensuous  luxuries  he  enjoyed  beauty  in  form 
and  color.    But  he  was  not  dependent  upon  either. 


1 


ESTIMATES  AND   IMPRESSIONS  393 

And  for  money  apart  from  what  it  could  buy  he 
cared  not  a  jot.  My  first  acquaintance  with  liim 
illustrates  iiis  singular  carelessness  in  money  mat- 
ters. I  was  a  boy  of  nineteen  in  my  brother's  law 
office ;  I  had  been  an  attendant  on  Plymouth 
Church  for  but  a  few  months  ;  he  knew  me  only 
as  a  younger  brother  of  one  of  the  members  of  his 
church  when  he  asked  me  one  Sunday  after  service 
to  call  at  his  house  the  next  morning.  When  1 
called  he  opened  a  drawer  in  his  desk,  took  out  a 
package  of  biUs,  gave  them  to  me,  and  asked  me  to 
go  to  an  address  in  the  upper  part  of  New  York  City 
to  pay  off  a  mortgage  and  get  a  satisfaction-piece. 
My  recollection  is  that  the  amount  was  ten  thousand 
dollars.  I  know  that  until  I  got  the  money  out  of  my 
pocket  and  the  satisfaction-piece  in  its  place,  I  was 
in  a  dread  lest  my  pocket  should  be  picked  and  his 
money  and  my  reputation  should  go  together.  He 
rarely  came  out  on  the  right  side  of  a  bargain 
when  the  bargaining  was  left  to  him.  His  ser- 
mons any  one  was  welcome  to  publish  who  wished 
to  do  so.  In  his  later  life  he  earned  thousands  of 
dollars  by  his  lecturing  ;  but  this  was  because  he 
had  the  wisdom  to  put  himself  in  Major  J.  B. 
Pond's  hands,  and  to  refer  all  applications  for  lec- 
tures to  liim.  He  was  generous  to  a  fault  with  his 
money ;  many  were  the  unworthy  beggars,  large 
and  small,  who  made  off  with  contributions  from 
him  ;  not  till  late  in  life  did  he  learn  any  financial 
wisdom,  and  then  not  too  much. 

He   was   as   indifferent   to  fame   as  he  was  to 


394  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

money.  He  counseled  young  ministers  to  beware 
of  falling  into  the  weakness  of  considering  how 
they  could  conserve  their  reputation,  and  satirized 
those  who  were  habitually  considering  what  would 
be  the  effect  of  their  words  or  actions  upon  their 
"  influence."  He  resented  counsel  to  himself  based 
on  the  idea  that  his  influence  would  be  injured  by 
some  proposed  action.  Partly  owing  to  this  indif- 
ference to  his  reputation,  partly  to  the  orator's 
instinct  to  use  at  the  time  not  only  that  form  of 
expression,  but  also  that  phase  of  truth  which  will 
produce  the  effect  he  wishes  to  produce,  Mr.  Beecher 
was  careless  of  consistency,  which,  with  Emerson, 
he  regarded  as  the  vice  of  small  minds.  Once 
called  to  account  for  the  inconsistency  of  some- 
thing he  had  just  said  with  a  previous  utterance 
of  his  on  the  same  subject,  he  replied,  ''  Oh,  yes ! 
Well,  that  was  last  week."  Yet  these  inconsist- 
encies were  more  apparent  than  real.  Thus  he 
preached  one  Sunday  a  sermon  on  the  text,  "  Train 
up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is 
old  he  will  not  depart  from  it ;  "  and  began  by  say- 
ing, "  This  is  not  God's  policy  of  insurance  on 
children ;  this  is  the  statement  of  a  natural  law." 
About  a  year  later  he  took  the  same  text  and  be- 
gan his  sermon  by  saying,  "  This  is  God's  policy 
of  insurance  on  children,"  and  proceeded  to  treat 
it  as  a  divine  promise.  Yet  the  two  utterances  are 
really  consistent,  since  God's  promises  are  fulfilled 
through  natural  law. 

But  if  he  cared  very  little  what  the  great  public 


ESTIMATES   AND   IMPRESSIONS  395 

thought  about  him,  he  cared  a  great  deal  about 
how  those  who  knew  him  felt  toward  him.  Tlie 
expression  uttered  by  him  on  his  seventieth  birth- 
day represents  his  habitual  mood  :  "I  love  men  so 
much,  that  I  like  above  all  other  things  in  the 
world  to  be  loved.  And  yet  I  can  do  without  it 
when  it  is  necessary.  I  love  love,  but  I  love  truth 
more,  and  God  more  yet."  For  great  as  was  his 
love  for  his  fellow  men  and  his  desire  for  their 
love,  the  dominating  motives  of  his  life  were  his 
love  for  God,  or  his  love  for  Christ,  —  and  in  his 
experience  the  two  phrases  were  sjnionymous,  — 
and  his  desire  for  God's  love.  No  one  who  knew 
him  intimately  could  doubt  the  simplicity  and  sin- 
cerity of  his  piety.  Christ  was  a  very  real  and  a 
very  present  Person-  to  him.  His  disbelief  in  theo- 
logy never  involved  In  doubt  his  experience  of  vital 
fellowship  with  the  living  God.  I  do  not  mean  that 
this  experience  was  not  more  real  at  some  times 
than  at  others  ;  nor  that  he  did  not  have  at  times 
the  experience  which  in  Jesus  Christ  found  utter- 
ance in  the  bitter  cry,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why 
hast  thou  forsaken  me !  "  But  if  so,  these  expe- 
riences were  rare.  His  prevailing  mood  was  one  of 
the  conscious  presence  of  Christ,  to  whom  he  would 
at  times  refer  as  simply  and  as  naturally  as  to  any 
other  friend  and  companion.  Yet  he  never,  if  I 
may  so  speak,  traded  on  this  experience.  He  never 
assumed  it  as  an  authority.  He  never  said  that 
Christ  had  told  him  to  do  this  or  that.  His  ex- 
perience accorded  with  and  interprets  practically 


396  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

the  philosophy  of  Professor  William  James,  that 
m3\stical  states  are  authority  to  the  persons  to 
whom  they  come,  but  are  not  to  be  quoted  as  an 
authority  to  those  to  whom  they  do  not  come. 

I  make  no  attempt  here  to  analyze  Mr.  Beecher's 
power  as  an  orator,  to  indicate  the  various  elements 
which  entered  into  it,  or  to  explain  its  secret,  fur- 
ther than  to  say  that  far  more  important  than 
were  his  voice  and  face  and  gesture,  his  skillful 
though  inartificial  rhetoric,  his  opalescent  imagina- 
tion, his  illuminating  humor,  his  unconscious  art 
of  dramatization,  his  perfervid  and  contagious  emo- 
tion —  far  more  important  than  all  of  these  were 
the  sane  judgment,  the  dominating  conscience,  and 
the  spiritual  faith  which  used  these  gifts  as  instru- 
ments, never  in  the  service  of-  self,  always  in  the 
service  of  a  great  cause,  or,  to  speak  more  accu- 
rately, in  the  service  of  his  fellow  men  and  his  God. 
Here  I  make  no  attempt  to  compare  Mr.  Beecher 
with  the  famous  orators  of  history.  I  attempt 
merely  to  record  the  impression  which  his  oratory 
produced  on  me  and  on  others  as  I  had  occasion  to 
observe  its  impression  on  them.  In  so  doing  I 
instinctively  compare  him  with  other  contemporary 
orators  whom  I  have  heard,  —  Daniel  Webster, 
Wendell  Phillips,  Charles  Sumner,  George  William 
Curtis,  John  B.  Gough,  William  E.  Gladstone, 
Charles  G.  Finney,  R.  S.  Storrs,  and  Phillips 
Brooks.  In  particular  qualities  each  of  these  men 
may  have  excelled  him,  some  of  them  certainly  did  ; 
in  combination  of  qualities  to  my  thinking  no  one 


ESTIMATES   AND   IMPRESSIONS  397 

of  them  equaled  him.  As  I  do  not  analyze  Mr. 
Beecher,  so  I  do  not  analyze  these,  his  contempo- 
raries. In  respect  to  them  all  I  speak  only  of  im- 
pressions produced  upon  myself. 

Daniel  Webster  imjjressed  me  by  the  weight  of 
his  words  ;  Wendell  Phillips  by  the  edge  of  his 
small  sword  and  the  dexterity  of  his  thrust ;  Charles 
Sumner  by  his  skillful  marshaling  of  facts  ;  George 
William  Curtis  by  the  perfect  finish  of  his  art  in 
language,  tone,  and  gesture  ;  John  B.  Gough  by  the 
combination  of  abandon  and  good  sense,  of  dra- 
matic impersonation,  and  real  apprehension  of  the 
actualities  of  life ;  William  E.  Gladstone  by  the 
persuasiveness  which  captivated  first  your  inclina- 
tion and  afterward  your  judgment ;  Charles  G. 
Finney  by  the  flawless  logic  which  compelled 
your  sometimes  reluctant  assent  to  his  conclusion  ; 
R.  S.  Storrs  by  the  more  than  Oriental  glory  of  his 
embroidered  fabric ;  Phillips  Brooks  by  the  sense 
of  a  divine  presence  and  power  possessing  him  and 
speaking  through  him,  as  through  a  prophet  of 
the  olden  time.  Mr.  Beecher  was  less  weighty 
than  Daniel  Webster ;  one  was  a  glacier,  the  other 
an  avalanche ;  one  was  a  battery  of  artillery,  the 
other  was  a  regiment  of  horse  charging  with  the 
impetuosity  of  a  Ney.  Mr.  Beecher  could  be  as 
clear-cut  and  crystalline  at  times  as  Wendell  Phil- 
lips was  at  all  times,  but  he  was  never  malignant 
as  Wendell  Phillips  sometimes  was,  and  never 
took  the  delight,  which  Wendell  Pliillips  often 
took,  in  the  skiU  with  which  he  could  transfix  an 


398  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

opponent.  Mr.  Beeclier  could,  and  sometimes  did, 
marshal  facts  with  a  military  skill  scarcely  inferior 
to  that  of  Charles  Sumner,  as  witness  some  pas- 
sages in  his  English  speeches,  but  he  was  never 
overloaded  and  overborne  by  them.  He  summoned 
facts  as  witnesses  to  confirm  a  truth,  and  when 
their  testimony  was  given  dismissed  them,  while 
he,  with  dramatic  imagination  and  emotional  power, 
pressed  home  upon  his  audience  the  truth  to  which 
they  bore  witness.  He  had  not  the  grace  either  of 
diction  or  of  address  which  characterized  George 
WiUiam  Curtis.  Mr.  Curtis  never  violated  the 
canons  of  a  perfect  taste ;  Mr.  Beecher  often  did. 
But  Mr.  Curtis  spoke  only  to  the  cultivated,  Mr. 
Beecher  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  ;  Mr. 
Curtis  spoke  from  manuscript ;  his  oration  com- 
bined all  the  perfection  of  the  written  with  some 
of  the  vigor  of  the  spoken  address.  Mr.  Beecher 
never  spoke  from  manuscript.  He  sometimes  read 
manuscript;  he  sometimes  spoke  without  manu- 
script; he  sometimes  alternated  the  two  methods 
in  the  one  address.;  but  he  could  not,  or  at  least 
he  did  not,  maintain  at  one  and  the  same  time  an 
unbroken  connection  with  the  page  upon  the  desk 
and  with  auditors  in  the  seat.  But  if  he  lacked  the 
grace  and  perfect  art  of  George  William  Curtis, 
he  possessed  an  inflaming,  convincing,  coercing 
power  which  Mr.  Curtis  did  not  even  remotely 
approach.  It  is  difficidt  to  compare  Mr.  Beecher's 
dramatic  power  with  that  of  John  B.  Gough.  Con- 
sidered simply  as   dramatic  artists,  Mr.  Beecher 


ESTIMATES   AND  IMPRESSIONS  399 

was  far  more  impassioned  and  moving,  Mr.  Gough 
more  versatile.  Mr.  Gough  was  always  dramatic. 
His  lectures  were  continuous  impersonations.  He 
was  the  best  story-teUer  I  ever  heard.  He  once 
told  me  that  lie  was  thinking  of  preparing  a  lecture 
to  be  entitled  "  That  Reminds  Me,"  which  should 
consist  of  a  succession  of  dramatic  stories  so  con- 
trived that  each  one  should  suggest  its  successor. 
He  never  did  prepare  such  a  lecture,  but  he  could 
readily  have  done  it.  Mr.  Beecher  could  hardly 
have  conceived,  and  certainly  could  not  have  ac- 
complished, such  a  lecture.  Mr.  Gough  was  a  skill- 
ful ventriloquist.  Once,  when  I  was  driving  with 
him  in  a  closed  carriage  in  the  country,  he  greatly 
excited  a  little  girl,  who  was  our  companion,  by 
the  mewing  of  a  cat,  for  which  she  searched  every- 
where in  vain.  Mr.  Gough  would  have  made  a 
brilliant  success  as  an  actor  in  either  farce  or  light 
comedy  ;  Mr.  Beecher  would  not.  I  never  heard 
him  tell  a  story  on  the  platform,  unless  the  narra^ 
tive  of  personal  incidents  in  his  own  experience 
might  be  so  regarded,  and  rarely  in  the  social 
circle.  I  do  not  think  he  used  his  dramatic  art  for 
purposes  of  amusement.  I  doubt  whether  he  was 
ever  conscious  in  his  imitations  ;  he  certainly  was 
not  so  ordinarily.  A  purpose  to  be  achieved  in  the 
life  of  his  audience  always  dominated  him,  and  he 
was  dramatic  only  incidentally  and  unconsciously, 
because  in  describing  any  incident,  whether  real  or 
imaginary,  his  face  and  tone  and  gesture  came 
naturally  into  play.     He  stopped  at  the  office  of 


400  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

*'  The  Christian  Union  "  once  on  his  way  from  the 
dog-show,  and  he  described  the  dogs  to  me.  "  There 
was  the  bulldog,"  he  said,  "  with  his  retreating 
forehead,  and  his  big  neck,  and  his  protruding  jaw, 
like  the  highwayman  who  might  meet  you  with  his 
demand  for  your  money  or  your  life ;  "  and  his 
forehead  seemed  to  retreat,  and  his  jaw  protruded, 
and  he  looked  the  character  he  portrayed,  so  that 
I  should  have  instinctively  crossed  the  street  had  I 
met  after  dark  a  man  looking  as  he  looked.  "  And 
there  was  the  English  mastiff,"  he  continued, 
''  with  a  face  and  brow  like  Daniel  Webster's ;  " 
and  his  whole  face  and  even  the  very  form  and 
structure  of  his  head  seemed  to  change  in  an  un- 
conscious impersonation  of  the  noble  brute  he  was 
describing.  For  Mr.  Beecher  was  as  dramatic  off 
the  platform  as  on  it  ;  imitation  was  not  with  him 
a  studied  art,  it  was  an  unconscious  identification 
of  himself  with  the  character  he  was  for  the 
moment  portraying.  I  heard  Mr.  Gladstone  but 
once  ;  it  was  in  the  English  House  of  Commons ; 
his  object  was  to  commend  and  carry  his  motion 
for  the  use  of  the  closure,  before  unknown  in  Par- 
liament. It  would  be  absurd  to  attempt  an  esti- 
mate of  Mr.  Gladstone's  oratory  from  this  one 
address.  But  comparing  that  one  address  with  the 
many  I  have  heard  from  Mr.  Beecher,  it  was  more 
persuasive,  but  less  eloquent.  As  he  spoke,  it 
seemed  as  though  his  conclusions  needed  no  argu- 
ment to  sustain  them  ;  I  fouud  myself  saying  in 
response  to  all  he  said,  "  Of  course."    But  of  the 


ESTIMATES  AND  IMPRESSIONS  401 

dramatic  portrayal,  the  pictorial  imagination,  the 
warm  feeling,  the  brilliant  color,  the  iridescent  hu- 
mor, the  varied  play  of  life,  catching  now  one  hearer 
by  one  method,  now  another  hearer  by  another 
method,  converting  hostility  into  enthusiasm,  and 
indifference  into  interest,  which  characterized  Mr. 
Beecher's  greatest  addresses,  there  was  in  this  one 
speech  of  Mr.  Gladstone  scarcely  a  trace.  Charles 
G.  Finney  corralled  his  audience  ;  he  drove  them  be- 
fore him,  penned  them  in,  coerced  them  by  his  logic, 
—  though  it  was  a  logic  aflame,  —  convinced  their 
reason,  convicted  their  conscience,  compelled  them 
to  accept  his  conclusions  despite  their  resistance. 
His  sermons  are  essentially  syllogistic.  Syllogisms 
are  as  rare  in  the  sermons  of  Mr.  Beecher  as  in 
the  sermons  of  Phillips  Brooks.  He  was  not  log- 
ical, but  analogical.  He  did  not  coerce  men ;  he 
either  enticed  them,  or  he  swept  them  before  him 
by  the  impetuosity  of  his  nature.  He  sought  to 
convince  men  of  sin  chiefly  by  putting  before  them 
an  ideal,  and  leaving  them  to  compare  themselves 
with  it.    He  spoke  to  conscience  through  ideality. 

There  were  frequent  opportunities  for  comparing 
Dr.  Storrs  and  Mr.  Beecher,  since  they  often  spoke 
on  the  same  platform,  and  for  forty  years  they 
ministered  side  by  side  in  the  same  city.  Dr.  Storrs 
drew  his  illustrations  from  books,  Mr.  Beecher 
from  life ;  Dr.  Storrs  was  more  rhetorical,  Mr. 
Beecher  more  colloquial ;  Dr.  Storrs  more  artistic, 
but  sometimes  artificial,  Mr.  Beecher  more  spon- 
taneous, but  also  more  uneven  ;   after  hearing  Dr. 


402  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Storrs,  the  people  went  away  admiring  the  address ; 
after  hearing  Mr.  Beecher,  they  went  away  discuss- 
ing the  theme.  Comparing  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
and  Phillips  Brooks,  I  should  describe  Phillips 
Brooks  as  the  greater  preacher,  but  Mr.  Beecher 
as  the  greater  orator.  The  distinctive  function  of 
the  preacher  is  to  bring  home  to  the  consciousness 
of  men  the  eternal  and  the  invisible.  He  may  teach 
ethics,  or  philosophy ;  he  may  move  men  by  argu- 
ment, by  imagination,  by  emotion,  to  some  form  of 
action,  or  some  phase  of  thinking,  or  some  emo- 
tional life  ;  this  he  does  in  common  with  the  orator. 
But  the  unveiling  of  the  invisible  world,  looking 
himself,  and  enabling  others  also  to  look  upon  the 
thmgs  which  are  unseen  and  are  eternal  —  this  is 
the  preacher's  distinctive  and  exclusive  function. 
It  is  this  which  makes  him,  what  the  Old  Testa- 
ment calls  him,  a  prophet — a  forth-teller,  speaking 
by  a  spirit  within,  of  a  world  seen  only  from  within. 
This  Mr.  Beecher  did  to  a  remarkable  degree  ;  but 
he  did  much  more  and  other  than  this  —  though 
nothing  higher,  for  there  is  nothing  higher  that 
any  man  can  do  for  his  feUow  men.  This  is  to 
open  the  eyes  of  the  blind  and  enable  them  to  see. 
This  was  the  exclusive  mission  of  PhiUips  Brooks. 
He  might  have  said  of  himself,  without  irrever- 
ence, "  I  have  come  that  they  might  have  life,  and 
might  have  it  more  abundantly."  Mr.  Beecher  was 
also  a  life-giver;  but  he  was  besides  a  guide,  a 
counselor,  a  teacher.  He  moved  men  by  his  imme- 
diate spiritual  power,  awaking  in  them  a  power  to 


ESTIMATES   AND   IMPRESSIONS  403 

perceive  and  receive  spiritual  life;  but  he  also 
moved  them  indirectly  and  mediately  through  ar- 
gument, humor,  imagination,  imitation,  human  sym- 
pathy, the  contagious  power  of  a  passionate  enthu- 
siasm. It  was  his  spiritual  life  which  made  Phillips 
Brooks  the  orator ;  Mr.  Beecher  would  have  been 
a  great  orator  though  he  had  lacked  spiritual  life. 

To  sum  up  in  a  sentence  the  impression  on  my 
own  mind  of  Mr.  Beecher's  oratory  as  compared 
with  that  of  other  contemporary  orators :  in  par- 
ticular elements  of  charm  or  power  he  was  surpassed 
by  some  of  them ;  in  combination  of  charm  and 
power  by  none ;  but  his  power  was  greater  than  his 
charm,  and  his  charm  was  subsidiary  to  power,  and 
its  instrument.     If  the  test  of  the  oration  is  its 
perfection,  whether  of  structure  or  of  expression, 
other  orators  have  surpassed  Mr.  Beecher ;   if  the  . 
test  of  oratory  is  the  power  of  the  speaker  to  im- 
part to  his  audience  his  life,  to  impress  on  them  t 
his  conviction,  animate  them  with  his  purpose,  andi 
direct  their  action  to  the  accomplishment  of  hisj 
end,  then  Mr.  Beecher  was  the  greatest  orator  II 
have  ever  heard ;   and  in  my  judgment,  whether 
measured  by  the  immediate  or  by  the  permanent 
effects  of  his  addresses,  takes  his  place  in  the  rank 
of  the  great  orators  of  the  world.    I  doubt  whether 
in    history  greater   immediate   or  more  enduring 
effects  have  ever  been  produced  by  any  orations 
than  were    produced    on    English    sentiment   and 
English  national  life  by  his  speeches  in  England. 

A  remarkable  illustration  of  charm  and  power 


404  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

combined  was  furnished  by  bis  speech  delivered  at 
the  testimonial  dinner  given  in  New  York  City  to 
Herbert  Spencer,  on  the  eve  of  the  latter's  return 
to  England.  The  dinner  was  a  long  and  elaborate 
one.  The  diners  were  with  few  exceptions  scientific 
men  of  eminence.  There  were  very  few  who  were 
known  as  active  in  the  Christian  Church  or  in  the 
religious  world.  Mr.  William  M.  Evarts  presided, 
and  lightened  an  otherwise  heavy  series  of  speeches 
with  occasional  sallies  of  wit.  But  there  had  been 
no  humor,  and  no  emotion,  and  little  of  literary 
charm  in  the  speeches.  The  last  two  speakers  were 
John  Fiske  and  Mr.  Beecher ;  their  theme  Science 
and  Religion.  Mr.  Fiske  read  an  essay,  clear,  crys- 
talline, coldly  intellectual;  he  dealt  with  theology, 
not  with  religion.  It  was  nearing  midnight  when 
Mr.  Beecher  rose  to  make  the  last  address.  The 
room  was  filled  with  tobacco-smoke.  The  auditors 
were  weary  and  ready  to  go  home.  Not  a  vibrat- 
ing note  had  been  struck  throughout  the  evening. 
It  seemed  to  me  as  Mr.  Beecher  rose  that  all  he  could 
do  was  to  apologize  for  not  speaking  at  that  late 
hour  and  dismiss  his  audience.  By  some  jest  he 
won  a  laugh;  caught  the  momentary  attention  of 
his  audience;  seemed  about  to  lose  it;  caught  it 
again ;  again  saw  it  escaping,  and  again  captured 
it.  In  five  minutes  the  more  distant  auditors  had 
moved  their  chairs  forward,  the  French  waiters, 
who  had  paid  no  attention  to  any  one  else,  straight- 
ened themselves  up  against  the  waUs  to  listen ; 
Herbert   Spencer   on  one   side  of   him  and  Mr. 


ESTIMATES  AND   IMPRESSIONS  405 

Evarts  on  the  other  were  looking  up  into  his  face 
to  catch  the  utterance  of  his  speaking  countenance 
as  of  his  words.  And  then  he  preached  as  evangel- 
ical a  sermon  as  I  have  ever  heard  from  any  min- 
ister's lips.  He  claimed  Paul  as  an  evolutionist; 
he  read  or  quoted  from  the  seventh  chapter  of  Ro- 
mans in  support  of  the  claim ;  he  declared  that 
man  is  an  animal,  and  has  ascended  from  an  animal, 
but  is  more  than  animal,  has  in  him  a  conscience,  a 
reason,  a  faith,  a  hope,  a  love,  which  are  divine  in 
nature  and  in  origin  ;  he  appealed  to  the  experience 
of  liis  auditors  to  confirm  his  analysis ;  he  evoked 
cries  of  ^'  That 's  so  !  That 's  so  !  "  like  Methodist 
amens  from  all  over  the  room  ;  and  when  he  ended, 
in  what  was,  in  all  but  its  form,  a  prayer  that  God 
would  convey  Herbert  Spencer  across  that  broader 
and  deeper  sea  which  flows  between  these  shores  and 
the  unknown  world  beyond,  and  that  there  the  two 
might  meet  to  understand  better  the  life  which  is 
so  truly  a  mystery  and  the  God  who  is  so  much  to 
us  the  Unknown  here,  the  whole  audience  rose  by 
a  common  impulse  to  their  feet,  as  if  to  make  the 
prayer  their  own,  cheering,  clapping  their  hands,  and 
waving  their  handkerchiefs.  I  can  see  the  critic 
smiling  with  amused  contempt  at  this  paragi-aph, 
if  he  deigns  to  read  it.  None  the  less,  he  is  shallow 
in  his  perceptions,  as  well  as  wi'ong  in  his  judg- 
ments, if  he  is  not  able  to  recognize  both  the 
charm  and  the  power  of  the  orator  who  can  win 
such  a  response,  at  such  a  time,  from  such  an 
audience. 


406  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  chiefly  of  the  impressions 
which  Mr.  Beecher's  public  character  and  conduct 
made  upon  me.  What  impression  was  left  by  his 
private  life?  It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  answer 
that  question,  because  he  was  a  man  of  various 
moods  as  well  as  of  versatile  talents,  and  produced 
different  impressions  at  different  times.  Every 
man  is  a  bundle  of  contradictions  ;  in  general  the 
greater  the  man  the  greater  the  contradictions. 
They  were  certainly  great  in  Mr.  Beecher. 

He  was  most  intense  in  his  activity;  the  story 
of  his  life  shows  that.  One  who  saw  him  only  in 
his  work  would  imagine  that  he  was  never  at  rest. 
On  the  contrary,  in  his  hours  of  rest  he  was  abso- 
lutely relaxed  in  mind  and  body.  He  was  fond  of 
horses,  as  I  have  said,  and  both  rode  and  drove 
well ;  he  tallied  eloquently  of  fishing  and  hunting ; 
lie  advocated  athletic  sports  —  for  others ;  he  be- 
lieved in  the  healthf  ulness  of  billiards  and  bowling ; 
yet  except  croquet,  he  had  no  favorite  recreation. 
But  he  loved  to  lie  under  the  trees  and  follow  his 
own  counsel  by  "  considering "  the  flowers,  the 
clouds,  the  trees  ;  in  the  city  he  would  go  to  the 
house  of  a  familiar  friend,  throw  himself  upon 
the  sofa,  and  listen  to  the  conversation  of  others, 
perhaps  joining  in  it,  perhaps  not ;  or  he  would 
rest  both  mind  and  body  by  joining  in  a  frolic 
with  children,  of  whom  he  was  very  fond.  His 
work  was  strenuous,  but  his  rest  was  absolute. 

Of  his  combination  of  courage  and  caution,  cour- 
age in  determining  what  to  do,  caution  in  deter- 


ESTIMATES   AND   IMPRESSIONS  407 

mining  how  to  do  it,  I  have  already  spoken. ^  The 
fact  that  the  front  seats  of  the  gallery  in  a  theatre 
at  Richmond  are  occupied  by  men  prepared  with 
eggs  to  throw  at  him  does  not  daunt  him  in  the 
least ;  he  faces  the  hostile  audience  without  a  tremor. 
But  he  disarms  them  by  a  compliment  to  their  state 
pride  before  he  begins  to  give  them  some  economic 
lessons  sorely  needed  at  that  time,  especially  in  the 
Southern  States. 

He  was  at  once  outspoken  and  reserved.  Those 
who  knew  him  only  by  his  public  speech  thought 
he  wore  his  heart  upon  his'  sleeve,  because  he  used 
his  own  most  sacred  experiences  without  hesitation, 
if  he  thought  they  would  serve  his  feUow  men. 
What  father,  and  mother,  and  home,  and  children, 
and  Bible,  and  prayer,  and  Christ,  and  God  were 
to  him  he  told  again  and  again  in  public  discourses, 
and  he  urged  others  to  make  equally  free  use  of 
their  experiences.  Yet  in  private  he  rarely  talked 
of  himself  except  as  he  thought  the  self-revelation 
would  help  some  struggling  and  perplexed  soul  into 
light  and  freedom.  Nothing  in  his  experience  was 
too  sacred  to  be  used  for  that  purpose.  He  was 
not  otherwise  given  to  indulgence  in  reminiscence, 
and  never  to  narrating  his  achievements.  He  could 
be  as  reticent  and  Sphinx-like  as  General  Grant, 
and  could  preserve  a  silence  as  impenetrable,  as  he 
proved  by  being  unmoved  by  all  the  misconstruc- 
tion to  which  his  silence  subjected  him,  when  speech 
would  have  disclosed  the  secret  of  the  household 
1  Chapter  vii.  pp.  156,  157. 


408  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

whose  unity  and  good  name  lie  was  determined  if 
possible  to  preserve,  at  whatever  cost  to  himseK. 
He  had  a  way  at  times  of  abstracting  himself  from 
all  around  him,  and  becoming  in  appearance,  and 
I  rather  think  in  reality,  deaf  and  blind  to  every- 
thing external.  When  he  was  about  to  deliver  his 
address  in  Burton's  Theatre,  by  which  time  he  knew 
me  well,  and  I  had  done  that  financial  errand  for 
him  of  which  I  have  already  spoken,  finding  it  diffi- 
cult to  get  tolerable  accommodation  at  the  front, 
I  went  to  the  stage-door,  and  waited,  hoping  that  I 
might  get  in  when  he  entered.  He  brushed  against 
me  as  he  passed,  but  with  that  far-away  look  in  his 
eyes,  which  seemed  to  say,  "  whether  in  the  body  or 
out  of  the  body  I  know  not ; "  so  my  device  failed. 
He  often  walked  as  abstracted  and  unobservant  on 
the  street,  oblivious  of  all  about  him.  Yet  at  other 
times  he  would  pass  immediately  into  the  pulpit 
from  what  serious-minded  folk  would  regard  as 
unseemly  frivolity.  The  last  Sunday  morning  of 
his  ministry,  as  he  entered  the  church,  he  greeted 
the  usher  at  the  door,  an  old  familiar  friend,  with  a 
request  for  a  seat.  The  usher  caught  his  mood,  and 
replied,  "  If  you  will  wait  here  till  the  pewholders 
are  seated,  I  will  try  to  accommodate  you."  "  Could 
I  get  a  seat  in  the  gallery  ? "  said  Mr.  Beecher. 
"  You  might  try  in  the  upper  gallery."  "  But  I 
am  a  little  hard  of  hearing,"  said  Mr.  Beecher, 
putting  his  hand  to  his  ear,  "  and  want  a  seat  near 
the  pulpit."  All  this  was  done  without  a  sugges- 
tion of  a  smile  ;  the  next  moment  he  was  in  his 


ESTIMATES  AND   IMPRESSIONS  409 

pulpit-cliair  turning  over  the  leaves  of  Ms  hymn- 
book  for  his  hymns.  Men  to  whom  reverence  and 
merriment  are  incongruous  can  be  pardoned  for 
not  comprehending  the  apparent  inconsistency  in 
such  a  change  of  moods. 

Quite  as  marked  a  characteristic,  and  to  many\ 
as  inexplicable,  was  his  singular  combination  of' 
seK-confidence  and  self-depreciation.  No  doubt  he 
was  conscious  of  his  power  ;  otherwise  he  could  not 
have  used  it.  A  great  meeting,  my  recollection  is 
on  behalf  of  the  freedmen,  was  gathered  in  the 
Brooklyn  Academy  of  Music  one  evening  during 
Andrew  Johnson's  presidency.  The  feeling  in  the 
Kepublican  party  against  the  President  was  already 
growing  into  bitterness.  Mr.  Beecher  still  defended 
him.  The  Academy  was  crowded.  "  They  say,"  he 
whispered  to  me  as  I  joined  him  on  the  platform, 
"  that is  going  to  attack  the  President  to- 
night ;  if  he  does  there  wiU  be  music  here  before 
we  get  through."  The  attack  was  not  made,  and 
I  did  not  hear  the  music  —  shall  I  confess  it  ?  —  to 
my  regret.  Yet  despite  his  self-confidence  before 
speaking,  he  was  never  seK-satisfied  after  speaking. 
On  one  occasion,  when  he  had  preached  a  sermon 
which  involved  a  vigorous  attack  on  Calvinism, 
and  we  were  about  to  publish  it  in  '^  The  Chi-istian 
Union,"  I  went  with  him  to  his  house  after  prayer- 
meeting  on  Friday  evening,  determined  that  he 
shoidd  revise  the  sermon.  "  There  are  expressions 
here,"  said  I  to  him,  "  which  were  well  enough  when 
interpreted  by  your  intonation,  but  they  will  have 


410  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

a  very  different  meaning  in  cold  print.  You  must 
revise  this  proof."  He  began  ;  cut  out  liere  ;  inter- 
polated there ;  again  and  again  threw  down  the 
proof  in  impatience  ;  again  and  again  I  took  it  up 
and  insisted  on  his  continuing  the  task.  At  last, 
sticking  the  pencil  through  the  proof  with  a  vicious 
stab,  and  throwing  both  upon  the  table  before  him, 
he  said,  "  Abbott,  the  thing  I  wanted  to  say,  I 
did  n't  say,  and  the  thing  I  did  n't  want  to  say, 
I  did  say,  and  I  don't  know  how  to  preach  anyhow." 
Nor  do  I  doubt  he  expressed  the  mood  of  the  mo- 
ment. He  never  wanted  to  read  his  own  writings ; 
he  rarely  had  enough  patience  with  them  to  revise 
them.  It  was  not  that  he  shirked  the  labor  ;  it  was 
because  the  product  so  dissatisfied  him.  ^ 

But  with  all  these  contradictions  he  possessed 
certain  qualities  which  were  always  present  and 
potent,  and  which  never  changed  with  changing 
moods.  Among  these  were  the  spontaneity  of  his 
humor,  his  love  of  beauty,  the  strength  of  his  con- 
science, his  chivalry  toward  women  and  cliildren, 
and  his  transparent  sincerity. 

He  was  humorous  in  the  pulpit  because  he  in- 
stinctively saw  things  in  their  incongTuous  rela- 
tions, and  described  them  as  he  saw  them.  He  did 
not  crack  a  joke  for  the  sake  of  making  a  laugh, 
either  in  public  or  in  private.  But  he  coidd  scarcely 
write  a  letter,  or  carry  on  a  conversation,  without 
that  play  of  imagination,  often  breaking  into 
humor,  which  characterized  his  work  in  the  press 
and  on  the  platform.    He  was  at  PeekskiH  ;  I  was 


^ 


^^^c^i*^  ^^^^   <i2c  '  ^-^  ^  y 


ESTIMATES  AND   IMPRESSIONS  411 

carrying  through  the  press  an  edition  of  his  ser- 
mons ;  this  is  the  letter  he  wrote  me  to  tell  me  that 
he  was  going  to  Brooklyn,  and  that  I  should  there- 
after address  him  at  that  city :  — 

Peekskill,  October  24,  1867. 
My  dear  Mr.  Abbott,  —  Norwood  is  done  —  sum- 
mer is    done  —  autumn  is  most   done.    The   birds   are 
flown,  leaves  are  flying,  and  I  fly  too  —  so  hereafter 
send  to  Brooklyn. 

Truly  yours, 

H.  W.  Beecher. 

He  sent  a  check  to  a  jeweler  to  pay  for  two  rings, 
and  this  is  the  letter  which  went  with  the  check :  — 

Brooklyn,  February  8,  1884. 
Jno.  a.  Remiok. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Please  find  check  for  amount  of  the 
opal  ring  and  the  moon-stone  ring.  They  suited  the 
respective  parties. 

The  opal  goes  to  my  son's  mother-in-law,  who  puts  to 
shame  the  world-wide  slander  on  mothers-in-law. 

I  think  old  maids  and  mothers-in-law  are,  in  general, 
the  very  saints  of  the  earth. 

I  looked  to  see  you  after  the  lecture,  and  to  have  a 
shake  of  the  hand  with  Mrs.  Remick.  But  you  neither 
of  you  regarded  the  ceremony  as  "  any  great  shakes," 
and  decamped  hastily. 

Yours  in  the  bonds  of  rainbows,  opals,  etc., 

Hexry  Ward  Beecher. 

The  Brooklyn  postmaster  sent  him  formal  notice 
that  a  letter  had  been  returned  to  hun  from  the 
Dead  Letter  Office,  and  got  this  in  reply :  — 


412  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

October  28,  1880. 
Colonel  McLeer. 

Dear  Sir,  —  Your  notice  that  a  letter  of  mine  was 
dead  and  subject  to  my  order  is  before  me. 

We  must  all  die  !  And  though  the  premature  decease 
of  my  poor  letter  should  excite  a  proper  sympathy  (and 
I  hope  it  does),  yet  I  am  greatly  sustained  under  the 
affliction. 

What  was  the  date  of  its  death  ?  Of  what  did  it  die  ? 
Had  it  in  its  last  hours  proper  attention  and  such  con- 
solation as  befits  the  melancholy  occasion  ?  Did  it  have 
any  effects  ? 

Will  you  kindly  see  to  its  funeral  ?  I  am  strongly 
inclined  to  cremation. 

May  I  ask  if  any  other  letters  of  mine  are  sick  — 
dangerously   sick?    If  any  depart   this  life  hereafter, 
don't  notify  me  until  after  the  funeral. 
Affectionately  yours, 

Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

On  April  1  lie  found  in  his  morning  mail  a  letter 
containing  only  the  words  "April  Fool."  "  Well ! 
/well !  "  he  said,  "  I  have  received  many  a  letter 
/  wliere  a  man  forgot  to  sign  his  name  ;  this  is  the 
first  time  I  ever  knew  of  a  writer  signing  his  name 
and  forgetting  to  write  a  letter."  After  I  took  the 
editorship  of  "  The  Christian  Union  "  I  urged  him 
to  give  his  views  on  public  questions  through  its 
columns.  "  As  it  is  now,"  I  said,  "  any  inter- 
viewer who  comes  to  you  gets  a  column  from  you ; 
and  the  public  is  as  apt  to  get  your  views  in  any 
other  paper  as  in  your  own."  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  I 
am  like  the  town  pump ;  any  one  who  will  come 
and  work  the  handle  can   carry  off   a  pail  full  of 


ESTIMATES  AND  IMPRESSIONS  413 

water."  On  one  occasion  I  argued  for  Calvinism  ^ 
that  it  had  produced  splendid  characters  in  Scot- 
land and  in  New  England.  "Yes,"  he  replied, 
"  Calvinism  makes  a  few  good  men  and  destroys 
many  mediocre  men.  It  is  like  a  churn  ;  it  makes  ^ 
good  butter,  but  it  throws  away  a  lot  of  butter- 
milk." Charles  Sumner  in  the  Senate  and  Thad- 
deus  Stevens  in  the  House  were  pressing  forward 
the  reconstruction  measures  based  on  forcing  uni- 
versal suffrage  in  the  South.  In  conversation  with 
me  Mr.  Beecher  thus  diagnosed  the  situation: 
"  The  radicals  are  trying  to  drive  the  wedge  into 
the  log  butt-end  foremost ;  they  wiU  only  split 
their  beetle."  They  did  ;  they  solidified  the  South 
and  divided  the  Republican  party.  If  he  had  been 
preaching  on  reconstruction,  the  figure  would  have 
flashed  on  him  then,  and  he  would  have  given  it  to 
his  congregation  from  the  pulpit  as  he  did  a  like 
humorous  figure  in  the  following  instance.  He  was 
denouncing  the  inconsistency  of  church  members  ; 
stopped ;  imagined  an  interlocutor  calling  him  to 
account  for  exposing  the  sins  of  church  members 
before  the  world,  and  thus  replied  to  him :  "  Do 
you  not  suppose  the  world  knows  them  better  than 
I  do  ?  The  world  sees  this  church  member  in  Wall 
Street,  as  greedy,  as  rapacious,  as  eager,  as  un- 
scrupulous as  his  companions.  He  says  to  himself, 
'  Is  that  Christianity  ?  I  will  go  to  church  next 
Simday  and  see  what  the  minister  says  about  this.' 
He  goes ;  and  what  is  the  minister  saying  ? " 
Then,   instantly,    Mr.    Beecher    folded   one   arm 


414  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

across  his  breast,  held  an  imaginary  cat  purring 
comfortably  there,  as  he  stroked  it  with  the  other 
hand,  and  continued :  "  The  minister  is  saying, 
'  Poor  pussy,  poor  pussy,  poor  pussy.'  "  Mr.  Beecher 
made  his  congregation  laugh  not  of  set  purpose  and 
never  for  the  sake  of  the  laugh,  but  because  he  saw 
(/  himself,  and  made  them  see,  those  incongruities 
which  are  the  essence  of  humor  and  often  the  most 
powerful  of  arguments.  And  they  flashed  in  his 
conversation  as  frequently  and  as  brilliantly  as  in 
his  public  addresses. 

^sthetically  Mr.  Beecher  was  self-made.  When 
he  came  to  Brooklyn  from  life  in  the  West,  in  what 
was  essentially  a  border  community,  he  brought 
with  him  both  the  unconventionality  and  the  lack 
of  cultivation  which  such  life  tends  to  develop.  He 
never  possessed  that  kind  of  taste  which  only  in- 
heritance and  early  training  can  impart.  But  he 
trained  himself.  His  love  of  form  and  color,  in 
flowers,  in  precious  stones,  in  rugs,  in  household 
decorations,  and  in  painting,  was  such  as  to  make 
him  no  mean  critic  respecting  them  all.  He  built 
his  house  in  Peekskill,  as  he  once  said  to  me,  be- 
cause he  wanted  to  express  himself  in  a  home ;  he 
selected  all  the  woods,  the  papers,  the  rugs,  the 
various  decorations ;  to  that  extent  he  was  his  own 
architect.  While  in  church  life  I  rather  think  that 
music  always  seemed  to  him  the  best  which  was 
the  most  effective  vehicle  for  the  expression  of  the 
emotional  life  of  the  congregation,  he  became  a 
lover  of  the  best  music,  and  an  habitual  and  thor- 


ESTIMATES  AND  IMPRESSIONS  415 

ougKly  appreciative  attendant  on  the  Philharmonic 
Concerts  in  Brooklyn. 

But  doubtless  righteousness,  and  not  beauty,  was 
his  standard;  ethics, not  aesthetics, afforded  the  law  of 
his  life.  He  would  have  taken  the  Latin  virtus^  not 
the  Greek  to  Ka\6v, —  valor,  not  beauty, —  to  express 
his  ideal  of  character.  The  Puritan  is  distinguished 
by  two  characteristics  :  the  strength  of  his  con- 
science, and  the  will  to  impose  it  as  a  standard  upon 
others.  Mr.  Beecher  had  the  Puritan  conscience, 
but  he  had  no  inclination  to  impose  it  on  others. 
He  loved  righteousness  ;  but  he  also  loved  liberty ; 
and  he  believed  that  righteousness  could  never  be 
imposed  from  without,  but  must  be  wrought  from 
within.  Nevertheless,  though  advocating  liberty  of 
choice  for  others,  the  Puritan  habits  remained  with 
him  to  the  end.  He  was  a  purist  as  regards  all  re- 
lations between  the  sexes.  He  did  not  play  cards, 
he  did  not  smoke,  and  he  was  an  habitual  though 
not  strictly  a  total  abstainer.  In  his  later  life  he 
occasionally  took  a  glass  of  beer  to  induce  sleep. 
He  went  on  rare  occasions  to  the  theatre,  but,  I 
judge,  rather  seriously.  In  one  of  his  letters  he 
speaks  of  studying  "  Hamlet "  as  a  preparation  for 
seeing  Ir^-ing.  The  theatre  did  not  appeal  to  him,  for 
the  same  reason  that  it  did  not  appeal  to  his  friend 
John  H.  Raymond,  —  because  he  had  too  much 
imagination.  The  crude  interpretation  of  character 
and  the  cruder  scenery  offended  and  obstructed  his 
understanding  of  the  play. 

This  Puritan  conscience  was  mated  to  a  spirit  of 


416  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER 

chivalry,  and  both  were  aroused  and  inflamed  by 
the  treatment  to  which  slavery  subjected  a  poor 
and  ignorant  race.  He  always  sympathized  with 
the  unfortunate.  And  this  was  not  the  professional 
sympathy  of  the  reformer.  Traveling  one  day,  he 
came  to  a  station  where  the  passengers  were  to 
change  cars.  All  his  fellow  passengers  were  hast- 
ening to  get  good  seats  in  the  adjoining  train.  A 
woman  with  three  children,  and  packages  to  corre- 
spond, was  helplessly  waiting  for  her  chance.  Mr. 
Beecher,  standing  on  the  station  platform,  took 
hold  of  both  railings  of  the  car,  braced  himself 
against  the  crowd,  and  said,  "  Is  no  gentleman  go- 
ing to  help  this  poor  woman  to  a  seat  ?  "  The  word 
was  enough ;  the  crowd  responded ;  and  the  woman 
found  half  a  dozen  willing  hands  to  help  her.  Mr. 
Beecher' s  old-fashioned  courtesy  to  his  wife,  and 
his  chivalric  attitude  toward  women  in  general,  was 
not  less  noteworthy,  though  it  has  been  less  noted, 
than  his  love  for  little  children. 

No  one,  I  think,  who  knew  Mr.  Beecher  at  all 
intimately  ever  doubted  his  sincerity.  He  never 
pretended ;  I  do  not  think  he  had  the  capacity  to 
carry  a  pretense  out  to  a  successful  issue.  He 
practiced  what  he  preached ;  and  he  was  powerful 
as  a  preacher  primarily  because  his  preaching  was 
the  sincere  and  simple  expression  of  himself.  His 
literal  interpretation  of  Christ's  teaching  concerning 
the  forgiveness  of  enemies  has  been  often  ridiculed 
as  impossible.  To  many  men  I  doubt  not  that  it  is 
impossible;  to  him  it  was  natural.  Some  year  or  two 


ESTIMATES   AND  IMPRESSIONS  417 

after  his  public  trial,  Mr.  Moulton,  whose  treach- 
ery had  first  deceived  him  as  to  the  facts,  and  then 
betrayed  him  into  writing  those  letters  which  were 
the  only  ground  on  which  any  suspicion  against 
him  was  based,  became  involved  in  financial  diffi- 
culties. With  moistened  eyes,  Mr.  Beecher  said  to 
me,  "  I  wish  I  could  help  him  ;  I  woidd  gladly  loan 
him  the  money  to  extricate  himself,  but  I  suppose 
I  could  not.  He  would  not  understand  it,  —  no 
one  would  understand  it."  And  he  was  right.  No 
one  would  have  understood  it.  The  humor,  the  im- 
agination, the  righteous  indignation,  the  pleading, 
forgiving  love  of  Mr.  Beecher,  were  none  of  them 
assumed  or  excited  for  a  purpose ;  none  of  them 
belonged  to  the  platform  or  the  pulpit.  They  were 
his  very  self. 

I  lean  back  in  my  chair.  I  close  my  eyes.  The 
years  that  have  elapsed  are  erased.  I  am  sitting  in 
the  gallery  pew.  It  is  1858.  A  Southern  slave- 
holder is  at  my  side.  The  preacher  has  declared, 
as  he  often  did,  that  he  has  no  will  to  interfere 
with  slavery  in  the  states  ;  no  wish  to  stir  up  in- 
surrection and  discontent  in  the  slave.  Thereupon 
he  pictures  the  discontented  slave  escaping ;  por- 
trays him  stealthily  creeping  out  from  his  log  cabin 
at  night ;  seeking  a  shelter  in  the  swamp  ;  feeding 
on  its  roots  and  berries ;  pursued  by  baying  blood- 
hounds ;  making  his  way  toward  liberty,  the  North 
Star  his  only  guide ;  reaching  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio  River  ;  crossing  it  to  find  the  Fugitive-Slave 
Law  spread  like  a  net  to  catch  him.    And  I  see  the 


418  HENRY  WARD   BEECHER 

fugitive,  and  hear  the  hounds,  and  my  own  heart 
beats  with  his  hopes  and  fears ;  and  then  the 
preacher  cries,  "  Has  he  a  right  to  flee  ?  If  he  were 
my  son  and  did  not  seek  liberty  I  would  write 
across  his  name.  Disowned,"  and  he  writes  it  with 
his  finger  as  he  speaks,  and  I  see  the  letters  of 
flaming  fire ;  and  the  slaveholder  at  my  side  catches 
his  breath  while  he  nods  an  involuntary  assent ; 
and  as  we  walk  out  together,  he  says,  "  I  could  not 
agree  with  all  he  said,  but  it  was  great,  and  he  is 
a  good  man." 

Yes.  He  was  a  good  man  and  a  great  one.  Not 
without  errors.  Not  without  faidts.  But  in  his 
love  for  God  and  his  love  for  his  fellow  men  a  good 
man ;  in  his  interpretation  of  the  nature  of  God 
and  the  duty  of  man  to  God  and  to  his  fellow  men 
a  great  man,  with  a  clearness  of  vision  and  a  cour- 
age in  application  which  not  many  of  us  attain. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

The  analysis  of  Paul's  Seventh  Chapter  of  Romans  is 
taken  from  "  The  Christian  Union,"  in  which  it  was 
printed  in  March,  1887,  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
death,  from  the  original  manuscript  in  my  possession. 
The  statement  of  Mr.  Beecher's  theological  views  as 
given  by  him  to  his  brethren  in  the  ministry  at  the  time 
of  his  withdrawal  from  the  New  York  and  Brooklyn  As- 
sociation, is  here  reprinted  from  the  "Life  of  Henry 
Ward  Beecher,"  by  Lyman  Abbott  and  S.  B.  Halliday. 
The  Bibliography  has  been  prepared  by  the  Rev.  William 
E.  Davenport,  of  Brooklyn,  to  whom  I  am  also  indebted 
for  other  valuable  information.  I  also  acknowledge  my 
indebtedness  to  the  Rev.  Horace  Porter,  of  Montclair, 
New  Jersey,  for  reading  this  volume  in  manuscript, 
verifying  dates  and  incidents,  and  preparing  the  Index  ; 
and  to  the  Rev.  Ernest  Hamlin  Abbott  for  seeing  the 
book  through  the  press. 

LYMAN  ABBOTT. 


PAUL'S  THEOLOGY 

AN   UNPUBLISHED  MANUSCRIPT   ON   ROMANS,  CHAP.  VII 

By  Henry  Ward  Beecher 

[The  following  notes  are  here  printed  from  "  The 
Christian  Union  Supplement,"  March  17,  1887,  both  as 
an  illustration  of  the  thoroughness  of  Mr.  Beecher's 
study  of  the  Bible  and  the  method  of  his  preparation  for 
certain  forms  of  public  discourse.  They  formed  the 
basis  of  an  address  before  a  clerical  association ;  the 
date  of  this  address  I  am  not  able  to  give.] 

I  AM  to  discuss  verses  17,  20,  and  25,  in  the  seventh 
chapter  of  Romans  (quote).  Here  are  three  distinct 
statements  on  one  and  the  same  personal  experience. 

Is  the  chapter  to  be  taken  literally  ? 

Is  it  the  experience  of  Paul  ? 

Is  it  a  universal  experience  of  all  Christians  ? 

What  is  the  theory  of  sin  and  responsibility  ? 

"What  is  Paul's  theory  of  relief  from  a  sense  of  guilt, 
in  Christ  ? 

Paul  and  PauVs  countrymen  must  be  understood,  or 
we  cannot  interpret  Romans. 

Paul  was  a  poet  and  a  dramatist.  The  substance  of 
his  writing  was  fact,  the  form  dramatic  and  in  places 
poetic.  He  was  not  a  conscious  artist.  As  the  meteoric 
elements,  when  they  meet  the  rush  of  this  world's  atmo- 
sphere, fuse  and  burn,  so  whatever  touched  the  soul  of 
Paul  became  incandescent.  The  whole  Book  of  Romans 
is  an  argument  in  a  kind  of  intermitting  drama,  and  no 


APPENDIX  423 

one  can  follow  Its  course  with  only  dictionary,  grammar, 
and  logic.  To  these  must  be  added  sympathy  with  an 
impetuous  moral  nature,  whose  mind  acted  hy  intuition 
—  a  mind  that,  rushing  toward  a  goal,  saw  and  often 
was  detained  by  side-lights  ;  whose  thoughts  were  opal- 
escent, flashing,  full  of  heavenly  color. 

The  Book  of  Romans  was  not  Paul's  exposition  of 
religion  at  large^  ov^y  ^^  '^^  much  of  Christ's  religion  as 
was  needful  to  his  purposes.  Romans  is  a  grand  special 
plea  !  His  audience,  his  countrymen  !  His  aim,  to  per- 
suade them  to  new  and  higher  methods  of  righteousness 
than  they  possessed.  He  never  denies  that  they  were 
seeking  the  right  ends,  but  only  by  methods  which  could 
never  insure  it.  Instead  of  a  ritual,  he  proposed  a  per- 
son. Instead  of  conformity  to  a  system  of  rules,  he 
presented  the  inspiration  of  love.  Instead  of  Moses 
dead,  he  presented  Christ  alive.  His  was  a  spiritual 
psychology,  producing  morality,  not  a  morality  hoping 
to  blossom  into  spirituality. 

But,  Romans  derives  its  structure  full  as  much  from 
what  the  Jews  were  as  from  what  Paul  was.  It  was  an 
argument  of  persuasion  aimed  at  the  peculiarities  of  his 
countrymen.  Abstract  thought,  in  which  order  follows 
logical  association,  was  not  his  method.  He  followed 
the  minds  of  the  men  to  whom  he  wrote.  Like  a  sur- 
geon, he  watched  the  face  and  pulse  of  the  patient  at 
every  motion  of  the  knife. 

Romans  is  not  Christianity  relative  to  its  own  self,  i.  e. 
in  a  complete  scientific  analysis  ;  but  Christianity  rela- 
tive to  the  state  of  high-minded  and  conscientious  Jews. 

It  assumes  that  Mosaic  Jews  and  Christian  Jews  had 
a  common  ground,  viz.  'personal  righteousness. 

The  argument,  then,  is  to  demonstrate  the  superiority 
of  Christ's  method  over  that  of  Moses,  and  only  so  much 
of  Christian  philosophy  is  used  as  is  needful  for  that. 


424  APPENDIX 

The  peculiarity  of  Jews. 

1.  He  had  before  liim  the  best  men.  He  wrote  to 
serve  high  jDurpose,  deep  moral  conviction,  sincere  and 
earnest  proofs. 

2.  But  they  were  utterly  blinded  by  spiritual  conceit. 
1.  They  believed  they  had  fulfilled  every  condition 

of  legal  obedience. 

That  God  was  bound  by  His  covenant  to  bestow  cer- 
tain great  advantages  upon  them. 

That  these  promises  or  honors  He  was  precluded 
from  bestowing  on  others,  except  they  entered  the 
nation  through  the  door  of  proselytizing. 

Romans  is  an  argument  addressed  to  profoundly 
earnest  and  conscientious  men  to  convince  them  that 
they  were  not  as  good  as  they  thought,  nor  possessed  of 
the  privileges  they  supposed,  nor  superior  to  other  na- 
tions ;  to  persuade  them  to  try  another  and  superior 
method.  It  was  a  tremendous  task ;  it  is  a  magnificent 
oration.  It  leaves  Demosthenes  far  behind  in  grandeur 
of  its  subject,  in  profound  materials,  in  grasp,  and  scope, 
and  the  fine  finish  of  Cicero  compares  with  it  as  the 
Chinese  dwarf  oaks  with  the  live-oak  of  Carolina. 

If  the  seventh  of  Romans  is  a  logical  and  scientific 
statement  we  must  accept  the  following  statement :  — 

1.  That  there  is  a  flesh-man  and  a  spirit-man  —  an 
actual  dual-man. 

2.  That  these  are  distinctly  at  war  with  each  other ; 
and  that  through  life  it  is  an  unsettled  conflict. 

3.  That  the  two  men,  one  under  different  laws,  have 
separate  and  different  characters  ;  are  so  different,  that 
the  one  may  sin  and  the  other  be  pure  and  blameless. 

In  other  words,  that  sin  does  not  run  through,  or  sin 
in  one  part  of  a  man  does  not  involve  in  guilt  the  whole 
man. 

4.  That  the  "  I "  can  retreat  from  the  lower  man  and 


APPENDIX  425 

sit  apart  and  above,  and  rejoice,  while  the  under  man  is 

sorrowing. 

5.  That  sin  is  a  substance,  like  soot  in  a  chimney,  or 
fungus  on  a  plant,  or  a  tapeworm  in  the  stomach,  a 
burglar  in  a  man's  house.  Vs.  17  :  "  Now  it  is  no  Tnore 
I  that  do  it,  but  sin  that  dwelleth  in  me." 

6.  Yet  in  25th  verse,  it  is  stated  that  the  flesh  is  part 
of  the  "  I,"  and  that  the  personality  serves  the  law  of 
sin. 

7.  The  seventh  of  Romans  is  no  more  dramatic  than 
the  two  preceding  chapters,  or  the  eighth  of  Romans. 
They  are  a  remarkable  mixture  of  the  abstract  and  con- 
crete ;  of  feeling,  imagination  and  fact ;  as  simple  state- 
ment and  as  metaphor.  To  interpret  them  by  a  scientific 
method  would  be  as  preposterous  as  to  apply  logarithm 
to  Milton's  Allegi'o,  or  II  Fetiseroso.  We  must  go  out 
into  life,  we  must  go  within,  to  others'  and  our  own  ex- 
perience, for  a  quick  and  real  comprehension. 

Especially  one  must  have  the  sensibility  to  poetry. 

8.  Sin  becomes  a  power,  a  conspirator  and  tempter. 

9.  A  petite  drama  is  flashed  forth.  A  man  is  alive 
and  walking  in  security.  The  commandant  lying  in 
ambush  attacks  him.  Sin  springs  up  as  [he]  passes  a 
covert.     He  is  slain  ! 

10.  A  kind  of  Greek  chorus  comes  in,  a  didactic 
statement  of  the  purpose  of  the  law.  But,  in  an  instant 
Sin  becomes  a  person,  a  bandit  springs  up  behind  the 
law,  and  slays  him  ! 

12.  Another  chorus. 

13.  A  strain  of  quasi  argument. 

14.  Ditto. 

15-19.  A  battle  in  Civil  War,  in  which  the  various 
parts  of  the  soul  must  face  in  conflict. 

20-22.  Chorus  and  recitation  which  suddenly  flows 
forth  again  in  vs.  23,  24  into  poetic  vision  ! 


426  APPENDIX 

25.  In  a  burst  of  feeling,  he  anticipates  and  overleaps 
the  argument,  snatches,  as  it  were,  a  verse  from  the  8th, 
and  yet  with  the  cry  of  victory  on  his  lips,  he  resumes 
the  statement,  and  a  wonderful  statement  it  is  (vs.  25). 

Two  departments  in  one  man !  Obedience  reigns  in 
one  and  disobedience  in  the  other. 

Under  this  opalescent  and  shifting  scene,  what  may 
be  regarded  as  Paul's  psychology,  if  he  could  be  kept 
cool  long  enough  to  make  a  scientific  statement. 

1.  What  is  the  scope  of  meaning  in  sarx. 

It  is  used  by  Paul  (1  Cor.  xv.  39)  to  signify  flesh  — 
meat. 

2.  The  body,  organized  physical  frame,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  spirit  —  1  Cor.  v.  5  ;  Rom.  ix.  8. 

3.  The  ap2^etites  and  passions  which  strictly  pertain 
to  physical  functions. 

It  is  in  this  sense  that  Paul  uses  the  phrase  in  his 
argument  respecting  sin  and  guilt. 

We  have,  in  Gal.  v.  19-21,  first,  group  of  four,  ama- 
tory sin  ;  second,  sins  of  comhativeness  and  destructive- 
ness  ;  third  group,  sins  of  eating  and  drinking  —  appe- 
tite ;  heresies,  i.  e.,  factions,  witchcraft  and  emulations, 
only  two  not  directly  for  passions,  but  they  are  in  life 
so  profoundly  associated  with  the  appetites  and  passions, 
that  they  may  well  be  classed  with  them. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  Paul  should  have  meant  to 
say  that  in  his  flesh  he  could  serve  the  law  of  sin  in 
this  overt  and  fruitful  way,  while  at  the  same  time  his 
nobler  self  was  serving  God  !  Nay,  in  Gal.  v.  24,  he 
expressly  says  :  "  They  that  are  Christ's  have  crucified 
thefiesh  with  the  affections  and  lusts'' 

But,  it  is  conceivable,  and  it  stands  to  nature,  that  a 
man's  reason,  conscience,  and  choice  may  be  united  and 
fixed ;  that  they  may  overawe  and  restrain  the  bodily 
appetites  and  passions,  and  may  direct  the  whole  being 


APPENDIX  427 

toward  things  pure  and  right,  and  yet  not  to  be  able  to 
withdraw  from  the  passions,  the  powers  of  suggestion 
and  impulse  ;  or  even,  at  unwatchful  moments,  out- 
break. Tlie  soul  is  kept  in  fear  and  trembling,  knowing 
that  conspirators  are  concealed  in  him.  At  any  hour 
insurrection  may  break  forth.  The  rebellious  province 
is  subdued,  but  not  pacified  nor  won  over  to  allegiance. 

What  then  ?  When  one  has  given  his  love  and  con- 
science over  to  a  living  friend,  and  honestly,  earnestly, 
and  intensely,  seeks  to  fulfill  his  wishes,  these  motives  of 
the  passions,  their  involuntary  impulses,  their  momentary 
outbreak,  are  not  to  be  counted  as  unsettling  the  char- 
acter, not  as  changing  the  direction  from  evil  to  good, 
from  the  flesh  to  the  spirit,  from  self  to  Christ,  and  in 
the  judicatory  of  love,  they  are  testimonies  rather  of  the 
fealty  and  fidelity  of  the  soul.  The  instant  restraint,  the 
condemnation  poured  upon  the  evil,  is  a  stronger  proof 
of  faithful  love  than  would  be  an  easy,  even  love,  that 
had  no  tasks,  no  self-denial.  In  all  this  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind,  that  the  question  in  debate  is  not  the  abstract 
question,  whether  the  casual  and  restricted  passions 
and  impulses  are  not  violations  of  law  —  but,  whether 
the  existence  of  such  an  experience  is  inconsistent  with 
peace  of  mind. 

The  Apostle  argues  —  that  under  the  Mosaic  system, 
as  held  by  the  best  of  his  contemporaries  with  a  percep- 
tion of  the  spiritually  felt  law,  a  system  of  external  obedi- 
ence, there  could  never  be  a  scTise  of  perfect  obedience. 
The  ideal  law  will  always  leave  actual  life  in  the 
vocative. 

But,  under  a  reign  of  love,  the  whole  flow  and  tend- 
ency of  life  is  counted,  and  the  incidental  defections 
are  thrown  out  and  not  counted.  So  that  as  a  child  with 
many  faults,  yet  seeking  to  obey  his  parents,  may  be 
made  very  happy  at  home,  so  when  we  become  sons  of 


428  APPENDIX 

God  in  a  faith  that  works  by  love,  disallowed  sins  do 
not  count. 

In  view  of  this  exposition  : 

1.  Is  this  Paul's  personal  experience  ? 

1.  He  doubtless  has  had  similar. 

2.  But,  he  personifies  a  struggle  of  thousands. 

2.  Is  it  a  universal  experience  ? 

1.  The  substance  matter,  the  elementary  experi- 
ences, belong  to  all  who  seek  the  godly  life. 

2.  But  they  are  not  collected,  unbattled,  and  brought 
into  conscious  conflict. 

3.  Only  in  cases  where  the  man  seeks  peace,  from 
obedience  and  not  from  trust  in  love.  It  is  the 
distinctive  experience  of  Conscience  and  Intel- 
lect dealing  with  real  or  ideal  law. 


THEOLOGICAL  STATEMENT 

[The  theological  statement  here  printed  was  given  hy 
Mr.  Beecher  at  a  regular  meeting  of  the  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  Association  of  Congregational  Ministers,  held 
October  11,  1882.  It  was  extemporaneous,  was  taken 
down  in  sliorthand,  and  was  published  from  the  short- 
hand writer's  report,  except  that  portion  relating  to  the 
Atonement.  For  the  occasion  of  this  address,  see  pages 
321,  322.  After  some  autobiographic  reminiscences  re- 
specting the  spiritual  experiences  out  of  which  his  theo- 
logy had  grown,  Mr.  Beecher  proceeded  as  follows.] 

In  order  to  make  this  a  little  more  plain,  to  throw 
a  little  light  on  the  operation  of  my  mind,  I  came 
to  think  finally  that  there  are  three  fundamental  ideas 
of  doctrine.  That  is  to  say,  doctrine  may  be  regarded 
as  fundamental  from  three  standpoints.  First,  from  the 
standpoint  of  theology.  Many  things  are  fundamental 
to  a  system  of  theology,  necessary  to  complete  the  whole 
chain  of  thinking  from  the  beginning  clear  around  to 
the  end.  The  most  complete,  interlinked,  compact,  and 
self-consistent  theology  in  the  world  is  the  Calvinistic  — 
the  higher  you  go  the  better  it  is,  as  a  purely  metaphy- 
sical and  logical  concatenation.  Many  doctrines  are 
fundamental  to  this  system  which  are  by  no  means 
necessaiy  to  Christian  life  and  character.  A  man  may 
be  a  good  Christian  who  accepts  or  rejects  many  of  the 
doctrines  of  Calvinism.  Then,  secondly,  you  may  look 
at  fundamental  doctrines  from  the  standpoint  of  eccle- 
siastical organization.    There  are  a  great  many  things 


430  APPENDIX 

that  are  indispensable  to  the  existence  of  a  church  that 
are  not  necessary  to  the  piety  of  the  individual  member 
of  that  church.  You  take  the  Roman  system.  Fundamen- 
talism there  means  not  so  much  systematic  theology  as 
it  does  the  truth  necessary  to  the  maintenance  and  in- 
fluence of  the  Church  as  God's  abode  on  earth  ;  and  you 
might  take  or  reject  a  great  many  theological  points  in 
that  system,, provided  you  stuck  to  the  Church  and  held 
to  it  firmly. 

Now  comes  a  question  which  I  have  always  regarded 
as  of  special  importance,  viz.  What  doctrines  are  fun- 
damental to  the  formation  of  Christian  character  and  to 
its  complete  development  ?  There  are  many  things  that 
are  necessary  to  a  system  of  theology  that  are  not  neces- 
sary to  the  conviction  or  conversion  of  men.  I  have 
called  those  things  fundamental  which  were  necessary 
for  the  conviction  of  sin,  for  conversion  from  sin,  for 
development  of  faith,  for  dominant  love  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  for  the  building  up  of  a  Christlike 
character.  That  dispenses  with  a  great  many  doctrines 
that  are  necessary  for  a  theological  system,  or  for  an 
ecclesiastical  system.  Now,  let  me  go  into  details. 

A   PERSONAL   GOD 

And,  first,  I  believe  in  God,  and  never  for  a  moment 
have  faltered  in  believing  in  a  personal  God,  as  distin- 
guished from  a  pantheistic  God,  whether  it  is  the  coarser 
Pantheism  of  materialism,  believing  that  the  material 
universe  is  God,  or  from  the  more  subtle  view  of 
Matthew  Arnold,  who  holds  that  God  is  nothing  but  a 
tendency  in  the  universe  —  a  something  that  is  not  me 
that  tends  toward  righteousness.  Well,  he  can  love  such 
a  God,  but  I  cannot.  I  would  rather  chew  thistledown 
all  summer  long  than  to  work  with  any  such  idea  as 
that.    I  mean  personal,  not  as  if  He  were  like  us,  but 


APPENDIX  431 

personal  in  such  a  sense  as  that  those  that  know  person- 
ality in  men  cannot  make  any  mistake  in  attempting  to 
grasp  and  conceive  of  God.  He  is  more  than  man  in 
the  operation  of  the  intellect,  larger  in  all  the  moral 
relations,  infinitely  deeper  and  sweeter  in  the  affections. 
In  all  those  elements,  notwithstanding  He  is  so  much 
larger  than  men  that  no  man  by  searching  can  find  Him 
out  to  perfection,  yet  the  humblest  person  can  conceive 
that  there  is  such  a  Being,  They  know  in  a  general 
way  what  the  Being  is,  and  that  He  is  a  personal  Being, 
and  accessible  as  other  persons  are  accessible,  to  the 
thoughts,  the  feelings,  the  wants,  the  cares  of  men.  So 
I  have  believed  and  so  I  do  believe.  Then  as  to  the 
controversy  as  to  the  knowable  and  unknowable  ;  I 
believe  on  both  sides.  It  is  not  usual  that  I  am  on  both 
sides  of  any  question  at  the  same  time ;  but  I  am  here. 
I  believe  that  there  are  elements  that  are  distinctly 
knowable  in  quality  but  not  in  quantity,  in  nature  but 
not  in  scope.  I  believe  that  when  you  say  that  God  can 
do  so  and  so,  or  cannot  do  so  and  so,  you  are  all  at  sea. 
What  God  can  do  and  what  God  cannot  do  in  the  im- 
mensity of  His  being  lies  beyond  the  grasp  of  human 
thought.  The  attributes  are  but  alphabetic  letters.  We 
spell  a  few  simple  sentences.  But  the  greatness,  the 
majesty,  the  scope,  the  variety  that  is  in  Him  we  cannot 
compute.  It  will  break  upon  us  when  we  shall  see  Him 
as  He  is,  and  not  through  the  imperfection  of  human 
analogies  and  experiences.  I  thank  God  that  there  is  so 
much  that  is  unkno^^able.  When  Columbus  discovered 
America  he  did  know  that  he  had  discovered  a  con- 
tinent, but  he  did  not  know  its  contents,  what  the  moun- 
tain ranges  were,  nor  what  or  where  the  rivers  were,  nor 
the  lakes,  nor  the  inhabitants.  Yet  he  did  know  he  had 
made  the  discovery  of  the  continent.  And  I  know  God 
so  that  I  walk  with  Him  as  with  a  companion,  I  whisper 


432  APPENDIX 

to  Him,  I  believe  that  He  imparts  thoughts  to  me  and 
feelings,  and  yet  when  you  ask  me  :  "  Can  you  describe 
Him  ?  Can  you  make  an  inventory  of  His  attributes  ?  " 
I  cannot.  I  thank  God  He  so  transcends  anything  we 
know  of  Him  that  God  is  unknowable.  People  say, 
"  Some  may  believe  this,  but  can  you  prove  it  ?  "  Sup- 
pose I  were  to  have  said  in  my  youthful  days  to  the 
woman  of  my  choice,  my  honored  wife,  "  I  love  you," 
and  she  handed  me  a  slate  and  pencil  and  said,  "  Be 
kind  enough  to  demonstrate  that,  will  you  ?  "  She  would 
not  have  been  my  wife  if  she  had.  Are  not  the  finest 
feelings  that  you  know  those  that  are  unsusceptible  of 
demonstration  ?  Certainly  by  analysis,  description,  lan- 
guage. Are  not  those  things  that  make  you  not  only 
different  from  the  animal,  but  from  the  men  around 
about  you,  that  lift  you  into  a  higher  atmosphere,  —  do 
they  not  transcend  any  evidence  that  the  sense  can  give  ? 
And  is  not  that  the  instruction  that  runs  through  all  of 
Paul's  writings  ? 

So  I  hold  and  so  I  have  taught  of  God.  Not  seeable, 
not  known  by  the  senses,  the  full  circuit  of  His  being 
not  discerned  except  by  moral  intuition,  by  the  range  of 
susceptibility,  when  the  down-shining  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
comes  to  me  I  know,  by  an  evidence  within  myself  that 
is  unspeakably  more  convincing  to  me  than  eye,  or  hand, 
or  ear  can  be,  that  there  is  a  God  and  that  He  is  my 
God! 

THE    TRINITY 

I  accept  without  analysis  the  tri-personality  of  God. 
I  accept  the  Trinity  ;  perhaps  because  I  was  educated  in 
it.  No  matter  why,  I  accept  it.  Are  there  any  difficul- 
ties in  it  ?  I  should  like  to  know  if  there  are  any  great 
questions  of  the  structure  of  the  universe,  of  the  nature 
of  mind,  that  do  not  run  you  into  difficulties  when  you 


APPENDIX  433 

go  a  little  way  in  them.  But  I  hold  that  while  I  cannot 
analyze  and  localize  into  distinct  elements,  as  it  were, 
the  three  Persons  of  the  Trinity,  I  hold  them  —  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  theories,  such 
as,  for  instance,  in  part  are  hinted  in  the  Nicene  Creed 
and  outspun  with  amazing  ignorance  of  knowledge  in 
the  Athanasian  Creed,  I  do  not  believe.  The  Athanasian 
Creed  is  gigantic  spider-web  weaving.  I  leave  it  to 
those  who  want  to  get  stuck  on  it,  but  the  simple  de- 
claration that  God  exists  in  unity  and  yet  in  the  tri-fold 
personality,  I  accept.  A  man  says,  "  Do  you  believe 
there  can  be  three  in  one  ?  "  Yes,  I  do.  It  is  not  con- 
trary either  to  reason  or  to  the  analogies  in  nature.  The 
first  forms  of  life,  the  lowest,  are  found  to  be  absolutely 
simple  and  unitary.  Every  step  of  development  in  the 
succession  of  animal  life  is  toward  complexity,  —  com- 
plexity of  functions,  of  organs,  of  powers  and  faculties, 
—  and  when  we  reach  the  higher  animals  the  complex- 
ity of  mental  traits  is  discovered,  —  animal  passions,  then 
social  instincts,  affections,  moral  sentiments,  —  until  in 
civilized  man  we  find  a  being  composed  not  only  of  mul- 
titudes of  parts,  but  of  groups,  so  that  unity  is  made  up 
by  whole  families  of  faculties.  I  can  conceive  that  in  a 
higher  range  of  being  unity  may  be  comprised  of  per- 
sons, as  in  the  lower  it  is  made  up  of  groups  of  faculties. 
It  is  not  proof  of  trinity  in  unity,  but  it  dissipates  the 
notion  that  three  may  not  be  one.  I  do  not  say  it  is  so, 
but  it  runs  right  along  and  in  the  line  of  analogies  of 
nature,  and  predisposes  one  to  accept  the  implication  of 
the  New  Testament  as  to  the  mode  of  Divine  existence. 
As  to  any  attempt  to  divide  the  functions,  —  the  Father 
to  His  function,  the  Son  to  another  department,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  yet  another  function, —  leave  it  to  those 
who  are  better  informed  than  I  am. 


434  APPENDIX 

FAITH   IN   CHRIST 

But  let  me  say  first,  that  while  there  are,  of  course,  no 
doubts  as  to  the  existence  of  God  the  Father  in  any 
Christian  sect,  there  have  been  grave  doubts  as  to  the 
divinity  of  Christ ;  but  not  in  my  mind.  I  believe  fully, 
enthusiastically,  without  break,  pause,  or  aberration,  in 
the  divinity  of  Christ.  I  believe  that  Christ  is  God  man- 
ifest in  the  flesh.  Is  the  whole  of  God  in  Christ  ?  Well, 
that  is  asking  me.  Can  infinity  be  inclosed  in  the  finite  ? 
What  I  understand  by  His  laying  aside  His  glory  is  that 
Christ  when  He  came  under  the  limitations  of  time  and 
space  and  flesh  was  limited  by  them.  I  am  limited.  You 
are  limited.  If  you  go  down  into  the  Five  Points  to 
talk  with  men,  you  lay  aside  at  home  two  thirds  of  that 
which  is  best  in  you.  You  cannot  bring  it  before  such 
persons.  You  are  limited  by  the  condition  of  their  minds. 
In  other  words,  it  is  quite  possible  that  even  God,  though 
I  know  not  how,  should  manifest  Himself  under  limita- 
tions at  times,  and  that  the  whole  power  and  knowledge 
and  glory  of  God  should  not  appear  during  His  earth 
life.  During  His  life  He  made  Himself  a  man,  not  being 
ashamed  to  be  called  a  brother.  He  went  through  the 
identical  experiences  that  men  go  through.  He  was  born. 
He  was  a  baby,  with  no  more  knowledge  than  a  baby 
has  ;  a  youth,  with  no  more  knowledge  than  a  youth 
has.  He  grew  in  stature.  He  grew  in  knowledge.  I 
believe  that  Christ  Himself,  at  times,  had  the  conscious- 
ness of  His  full  being.  There  were  days  when  it  seemed 
as  though  the  heavens  opened  and  He  saw  the  whole  of 
Himself  and  felt  His  whole  power.  But  the  substance 
of  His  being  was  divine,  and  He  was  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh.  That  is  my  faith,  and  I  never  swerved  from 
it.  And  I  can  go  farther  and  say  I  cannot  pray  to  the 
Father  except  through  Christ.    I  pray  to  Christ.   I  must. 


APPENDIX  435 

The  way  the  Spirit  of  God  works  with  me  makes  it 
necessary  that  I  should  have  something  that  I  can  clasp, 
and  to  me  the  Father  is  vague.  I  believe  in  a  Father, 
but  the  definition  of  Him  in  my  vision,  is  not  to  me 
what  the  portraiture  of  Christ  is.  Though  I  say  Father, 
I  am  thinking  of  Christ  all  the  time.  That  is  my  feel- 
ing, that  is  my  life,  and  so  I  have  preached,  so  I  have 
taught  those  that  came  from  Unitarian  instruction  — 
never  asking  them  to  a  technical  argument  or  proof,  but 
simply  saying,  "  You  say  you  can  pray  to  the  Father, 
but  cannot  to  Christ.  You  are  praying  to  Christ ;  you 
don't  know  it.  That  which  you  call  Father  is  that  which 
is  interpreted  in  Christ.  Since  the  Godhead  has  three 
doors  of  approach  to  our  apprehension,  it  makes  no  dif- 
ference through  which  our  souls  enter." 

THE    HOLT    SPIRIT 

Then  I  believe  next  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  one  of  the  persons  of  the  Godhead.  And  in 
regard  to  that  I  believe  that  the  influence,  the  Divine 
influence,  the  quickening,  stimulating  influence  of  the 
mind  of  God  proceeds  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that 
it  is  universal,  constant,  immanent.  The  body  of  man 
receives  all  the  stimulus  it  needs  from  the  organized 
physical  world — feeds  itself,  maintains  itself ;  the  social 
affections  receive  all  the  stimulus  and  impulse  they  need 
from  society ;  but  whatever  in  man  reaches  toward 
holiness  —  aspiration,  love  of  truth,  justice,  purity  — that 
feeds  upon  the  spiritual  nature  and  is  developed  by  the 
down-shining  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  as  the  sunlight 
is  the  father  of  every  flower  that  blossoms,  —  though  no 
flower  would  blossom  if  he  had  not  separate  organized 
existence  in  the  plant  on  which  it  shines,  —  so  "  work  out 
your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is 
God  that  worketh  in  you,"  describes  the  working  of  the 


436  APPENDIX 

Divine  Spirit   in  producing  right  affections  and  good 
works  in  man. 

PROVIDENCE 

I  hold  and  I  teach  that  there  is  a  general  and  a 
special  providence  of  God  which  overrules  human  life 
by  and  through  natural  laws ;  but,  also,  I  believe  that 
there  is  an  overruling  and  special  providence  of  God  in 
things  pertaining  to  human  life  as  well  as  to  the  life  of 
the  world  by  the  direct  action  of  His  own  will,  by  such 
a  use  of  laws  in  the  first  place  upon  us,  —  such  a  use  as 
may  not  be  known  to  us,  but  is  perfectly  known  to  God, 
—  by  such  a  use  of  natural  laws  as  is  wisely  adapted  to 
effect  needed  results.  A  great  thinker  can  employ  nat- 
ural laws  to  create  conditions  of  life  that  did  not  exist 
before,  to  change  public  sentiment,  to  repress  indolence, 
to  stimulate  activity.  Every  man  that  is  acting  in  the 
world  is  employing  natural  laws  with  cunning,  with 
wisdom,  with  skill,  by  which  he  is  enabled  to  change  the 
whole  course  and  current  of  things.  God  stands  behind 
the  whole  system  of  natural  laws  and  can  produce  special 
results  in  men  whenever  He  pleases.  Such  a  doctrine  of 
the  special  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  makes  prayer 
of  benefit  to  man.  I  believe  millions  of  prayers  are  not 
answered  and  that  millions  are  —  some  directly,  some 
indirectly.  Man  has  the  feeling  and  should  have  the 
feeling  :  "I  have  a  right  to  carry  myself  and  all  that 
concerns  me  to  God  ;  it  is  not  in  vain  that  I  pray  to 
Him."  I  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  partly  by  its 
moral  reaction  upon  us,  to  be  sure,  but  a  great  deal 
more  by  direct  answer  from  God.  I  believe,  then,  in 
Divine  Providence ;  I  believe  in  prayer,  and  out  of  the 
same  view  of  God  I  believe  in 

MIRACLES 

I  believe  miracles  are  possible  now;  they  not  only  were 


APPENDIX  437 

possible,  but  were  real  in  the  times  gone  by,  —  especially 
the  two  great  miracles  that  began  and  ended  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation  —  the  miraculous  conception  of  Christ 
and  His  resurrection  from  the  dead.  When  I  give  those 
up  the  two  columns  on  which  the  house  stands  will  have 
to  fall  to  the  ground.  Being  of  scientific  tastes,  believ- 
ing in  evolution,  believing  in  the  whole  scheme  of  nat- 
ural laws,  I  say  they  are  reconcilable  with  the  true 
theory  of  miracles. 

I  wrote  in  a  book  when  I  came  to  Brooklyn :  "  I 
foresee  there  is  to  be  a  period  of  great  unbelief ;  now  I 
am  determined  so  to  preach  as  to  lay  a  foundation,  when 
the  flood  comes,  on  which  men  can  build ; "  and  I  have 
thus,  as  it  were,  been  laboring  for  the  Gentiles,  not  for 
the  Jews,  in  the  general  drift  of  my  ministry. 

REGENERATION 

Man  is  a  being  created  in  imperfection  and  seeking  a 
full  development.  I  believe  him  to  be  sinful,  —  univer- 
sally man  is  sinful,  —  but  I  do  not  believe  he  is  totally 
depraved.  I  believe  that  to  be  a  misleading  phrase.  But 
no  man  ever  lived,  and  no  man  ever  will  live,  that  was 
only  a  man,  that  was  not  a  sinner ;  and  he  is  a  sinner 
not  simply  by  infirmity,  though  much  of  that  which  is 
called  sin  is  but  infirmity,  but  he  is  a  sinner  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  needs  to  be  transferred  out  of  his  nat- 
ural state  into  a  higher  and  spiritual  state.  He  needs  to 
be  born  again.  If  any  man  believes  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  sinfulness  of  man  I  do,  and  I  have  evidence  of  it 
every  day,  and  if  ever  a  man  believed  in  being  born 
again,  I  believe  in  that.  The  degree  of  sinfulness  in 
men,  I  have  always  taught,  is  dependent  on  a  variety  of 
circumstances.  Some  persons  are  far  less  sinful  than 
others.  It  is  far  easier  for  some  to  rise  into  the  spiritual 
kingdom   than    for   others.    Heredity    has   a  powerful 


438  APPENDIX 

influence.  The  circumstances  that  surround  men  by 
their  influence  lift  some  very  high  and  leave  others 
comparatively  low.  God  judges  men  according  to  their 
personal  and  their  actual  condition. 

[Here  a  member  of  the  Association  asked  if  a  man 
needed  to  be  regenerated  for  anything  beside  his  per- 
sonal sin.] 

He  needs  to  be  regenerated  to  become  a  man.  I  hold 
that  man  is  first  an  animal,  and  that  then  he  is  a  social 
animal.  He  is  not  a  full  man  and  a  religious  being  until 
he  is  lifted  into  that  higher  realm  in  which  he  walks 
with  God.  And  every  man  needs  to  be  lifted  into  that 
high  estate,  partly  by  parental  instruction ;  by  the  sec- 
ondary or  reflected  light  of  Christianity  upon  the  morals, 
customs,  and  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  he  lives,  some 
men  are  lifted  nearer  the  threshold.  There  is  not  a  man 
born  that  does  not  need  to  be  born  again,  and  it  is  a 
work  which  is  as  impossible  to  men  as  it  is  for  a  person 
to  come  suddenly  to  education,  to  knowledge,  simply  by 
a  volition.  No  man  can  ever  lift  himself  up  so.  It  is  not 
within  human  power ;  it  is  within  the  power  of  a  man 
to  put  himself  under  instructors  and  grow  up  into  educa- 
tion, but  I  hold  man  has  not  the  power  to  regenerate 
himself.  He  is  under  the  stimulating  influence  of  the 
present  and  immanent  Spirit  of  God  which  is  striving 
with  every  man  ;  when  he  will  open  his  mind  to  receive 
Divine  influence  every  man  is  helped,  and  the  act  o£ 
surrender  to  God  and  entrance  into  the  spiritual  king- 
dom are  the  joint  act  of  the  man  willing  and  wishing 
and  the  cooperative  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
enabling  him. 

INSPIRATION   OF   THE   BIBLE 

As  to  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  let  me  say  that 
with  a  few  exceptions  I  can  accept  the  chapter  in  the 


APPENDIX  439 

Confession  of  Faith  on  that  subject,  which  I  think  to  be 
a  very  admirable  compend.    I  will  read  it :  — 

"  Although  the  light  of  nature  and  the  works  of  crea- 
tion and  Providence  do  so  far  manifest  the  goodness, 
wisdom,  and  power  of  God  as  to  leave  men  inexcusable, 
yet  they  are  not  sufficient  to  give  that  knowledge  of  God 
and  of  His  will,  which  is  necessary  unto  salvation ; 
therefore  it  pleased  the  Lord,  at  sundry  times  and  in 
divers  manners,  to  reveal  Himself  and  to  declare  that 
His  will  unto  His  church  ;  and  afterward,  for  the  better 
preserving  and  propagating  of  the  truth,  and  for  the 
more  sure  establishment  and  comfort  of  the  church 
against  the  corruption  of  the  flesh  and  the  malice  of 
Satan  and  of  the  world,  to  commit  the  same  wholly  unto 
writing ;  which  maketh  the  Holy  Scripture  to  be  most 
necessary  ;  those  former  ways  of  God's  revealing  His 
will  unto  His  people  being  now  ceased." 

That  is  my  theory.  The  Bible  is  the  record  of  the 
steps  of  God  in  revealing  Himself  and  His  will  to  man. 
The  inspiration  was  originally  upon  the  generation,  upon 
the  race  ;  and  then  what  was  gained  step  by  step  was 
gathered  up,  as  this  says,  and  put  into  writing,  for  the 
better  preservation  of  it.  "  It  pleased  the  Lord,  at  sun- 
dry times  and  in  divers  manners  to  reveal  Himself  and 
to  declare  that  His  will  unto  the  church  ;  and  afterward, 
for  the  better  preserving  and  propagating  of  the  truth, 
and  for  the  more  sure  establishment  and  comfort  of  the 
church  against  the  corruption  of  the  flesh  and  the  malice 
of  Satan  and  of  the  world,  to  commit  the  same  wholly 
unto  writing."  I  do  not  want  any  better  definition  of 
my  view  of  inspiration  —  that  is,  inspiration  of  men, 
not  inspiration  of  a  book  —  and  that  the  book  is  the 
record  of  that  inspiration  that  has  been  taking  place 
from  generation  to  generation.  [Reading]  "The  au- 
thority of  the  Holy  Scripture,  for  which  it  ought  to  be 


/ 


440  APPENDIX 

believed  and  obeyed  dependeth  not  upon  tbe  testimony 
of  any  man  or  church,  but  wholly  upon  God  (who  is 
truth  itself),  the  author  thereof  ;  and  therefore  it  is  to 
be  received,  because  it  is  the  word  of  God."  I  have  no 
objections  to  make  to  that.  [Reading]  ''  We  may  be 
moved  and  induced  by  the  testimony  of  the  church  to  a 
high  and  reverend  esteem  for  the  Holy  Scripture ;  and 
the  heavenliness  of  the  matter,  the  efficacy  of  the  doc- 
trine, the  majesty  of  the  style,  the  consent  of  all  the 
parts,  the  scope  of  the  whole  (which  is  to  give  all  glory 
to  God),  the  full  discovery  it  makes  of  the  only  way  of 
man's  salvation,  the  many  other  incomparable  excel- 
lences, and  the  entire  perfection  thereof,  are  arguments 
whereby  it  doth  abundantly  evidence  itself  to  be  the 
word  of  God ;  yet,  notwithstanding  our  full  persuasion 
and  assurance  of  the  infallible  truth  and  divine  au- 
thority thereof,  is  from  the  inward  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  bearing  witness  by  and  with  the  word,  in  our 
hearts."  External  arguments  are  good,  that  says,  but 
the  witness  of  God  in  your  own  soul  is  the  best  evidence. 
I  believe  that.  No  man  can  wrest  the  Bible  from  me.  I 
know  from  the  testimony  of  God  in  my  moral  sense. 
[Reading]  "  The  whole  counsel  of  God  concerning  all 
things  necessary  for  His  own  glory."  I  do  not  believe 
that.  Who  knows  what  is  necessary  for  God's  glory  ? 
"  Man's  salvation."  I  believe  that.  The  whole  counsel 
of  God  concerning  all  things  necessary  for  man's  salva- 
tion, faith  and  life,  "is  either  expressly  set  down  in 
Scripture  or  by  good  and  necessary  consequence  may  be 
deduced  from  Scripture ;  unto  which  nothing  at  any 
time  is  to  be  added,  whether  by  new  revelations  of  the 
Spirit  or  traditions  of  men."  Yes,  I  might  believe  that. 
I  believe  it  with  an  addendum.  "  Nevertheless  we  ac- 
knowledge the  inward  illumination  of  the  Spirit  of  God 
to  be  necessary  for  the  saving  understanding  of  such 


APPENDIX  441 

things  as  are  revealed  in  the  world."  That  settles  that 
little  question.  It  is  the  moral  consciousness.  It  is  the 
man  as  he  is  instructed  by  knowledge,  and  then  inflamed 
or  rendered  sensitive  by  the  Spirit  of  God  that  sits  in 
judgment  upon  the  word  of  God.  Talk  about  our  not 
being  allowed  to  come  to  the  Bible  with  our  reason. 
That  is  the  only  way  we  can  go.  Is  a  man  to  come  with 
his  ignorance,  through  a  council  or  somebody  else's 
thinking  ?  Must  we  not  use  our  reason  to  know  what  the 
word  of  God  is?  When  a  man  says,  "You  must  not 
dilute  the  word  of  God  by  any  thinking  of  your  own ; 
you  must  not  translate  the  Bible  or  construct  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Bible  except  by  the  Bible  itself,"  then  I 
will  turn  and  catechize  that  man,  saying,  "  Will  you  be 
kind  enough  to  tell  me  from  the  Bible  alone  what  a  lion 
is  ?  "  You  cannot.  "  Will  you  be  kind  enough  to  define 
from  the  Bible  what  a  mountain  is  .'^  "  You  cannot. 
"  Will  you,  out  of  the  Bible,  define  a  river,  an  eagle,  a 
sparrow,  a  flower,  a  king,  a  mother,  a  child  ?  "  You 
cannot  do  it.  What  do  you  do  ?  You  go  right  to  the 
thing  itself  outside  of  the  Bible.  When  you  see  a  flower, 
you  know  what  the  Bible  means  when  it  says  a  flower. 
In  all  things  that  are  cognizable  by  man's  senses,  he 
finds  what  is  the  thing  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  by  going 
to  the  thing  itself,  outside  of  the  Bible.  It  is  absurd  to 
say  that  the  Bible  must  be  its  own  sole  expounder. 
Now,  that  which  is  true  in  respect  to  miracles,  —  in 
respect  to  the  whole  economy  of  human  life,  —  is  it  not 
also  true  in  respect  to  the  man  himself  and  his  own 
individual  experience  ?  A  man  says,  "  You  must  not 
undertake  to  dictate  to  the  word  of  God  what  conver- 
sion is."  I  should  like  to  know  how  I  am  going  to  find 
it  out  except  by  seeing  it  ?  I  go  to  the  thing  itself. 
Then  I  understand  what  is  meant  by  it.  And  so  far 
from  not  going  outside  of  the  Bible  to  interpret  it,  no 


442  APPENDIX 

man  can  interpret  it  without  a  knowledge  of  what  lies 
outside  of  it.  That  is  the  very  medium  through  which 
any  man  comes  to  understand  it. 

(Dr.  H.  M.  Storrs.)  You  used  the  sentence  just  now, 
"  We  are  not  to  substitute  our  reason  for  the  Word  of 
God?" 

(Mr.  Beecher.)  Yes,  and  in  using  it,  I  say  you  are  not 
confined  to  the  mere  comparison  of  texts.  You  have  a 
right  to  go  out  to  things  that  lie  within  the  reach  of 
human  knowledge,  and  study  outward  things  spoken  of, 
and  then  come  back  to  the  Bible  with  a  better  under- 
standing of  what  the  Bible  teaches.  Well,  I  shall  not 
have  time  to  say  much  more ;  but,  in  the  main,  with 
such  modifications  as  will  be  clearly  understood  now  by 
what  I  have  said,  I  accept  the  first  chapter  in  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  as  being  a 
very  wise  and  very  full  and  very  admirable  definition  of 
my  views  of  the  Bible. 

ATONEMENT 

[Mr.  Beecher  had  spoken  an  hour  and  a  half  before 
reaching  this  topic.  It  became  impracticable  for  the  re- 
porter to  reduce  it  to  writing  both  because  he  had  be- 
come weary  with  the  long  session,  and  because  the  speaker 
was  interrupted  by  a  multitude  of  questions  from  all  parts 
of  the  house.  Mr.  Beecher  has  been  obliged  to  write  out 
his  views  for  publication  without  regard  to  the  reporter's 
copy.] 

The  New  Testament,  instead  of  discussing  the  Atone- 
ment,—  the  word  is  but  once  used  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, —  confines  itself  to  the  setting  forth  of  Christ,  His 
nature,  power,  relations,  and  commands.  We  hear  no- 
thing of  a  "  plan, "of  an  "  arrangement,"  of  a  *'  scheme  of 
salvation,"  of  any  "  atonement,"  but  everything  of  Christ's 
work.    I  am  accustomed  to  say  that  Christ  is  in  Himself 


APPENDIX  443 

the  Atonement,  that  He  is  set  forth  in  His  life,  teaching, 
suffering,  death,  resurrection,  and  heavenly  glory,  as  em- 
powered to  forgive  sin  and  to  transform  men  into  a  new 
and  nobler  life  who  know  sin  and  accejDt  Him  in  full  and 
loving  trust.  He  is  set  forth  as  one  prepared  and  em- 
powered to  save  men,  to  remit  the  penalty  of  past  sins, 
and  to  save  them  from  the  dominion  of  sin.^  It  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  salvation  that  men  should  know  how  Christ  was 
prepared  to  be  a  Saviour.  It  is  He  Himself  that  is  to  be 
accepted,  and  not  the  philosophy  of  His  nature  or  work. 
I  employ  the  term  Christ  for  that  which  systematic 
writers  call  the  Atonement.  But  Christ  is  not  merely  a 
historic  name.  It  is  a  group  of  attributes,  a  group  of 
qualities,  a  character,  a  divine  nature  in  full  life  and  ac- 
tivity among  men.  When  we  accept  Christ,  we  yield  love 
and  allegiance  to  that  character,  to  those  qualities,  deeds, 
and  dispositions  which  make  his  name  "  to  be  above  every 
name."  The  idea  of  faith  is  such  an  acceptance  of 
Christ's  heavenly  dispositions  as  shall  reorganize  our  char- 
acter and  draw  us  into  a  likeness  to  Him.  When  it  is 
said  that  there  is  none  other  name  given  under  heaven 
whereby  men  can  be  saved,  I  understand  it  to  be  a  decla- 
ration that  man's  exit  from  sinful  life  and  entrance  into 
a  spiritual  life,  can  only  be  through  a  new  inspiration 
—  a  new  birth  —  into  these  divine  elements.  What 
Christ  was,  man  must  become ;  the  way  and  the  life  He 
was.  It  is  by  the  way  of  those  qualities  that  every  man 
must  rise  into  a  regenerated  state.  Christ  is  to  the  soul 
a  living  person  full  of  grace,  mercy,  and  truth  ;  of  love 
that  surpasses  all  human  experiences  or  ideals  (it  passes 
understanding)  a  love  that  is  patient,  forgiving,  self-sac- 
rificing, sorrowing  and  suffering  not  for  its  own  but  for 
others'  sins  and  sinful  tendencies.  Christ  is  a  living  actor 
moving  among  men  in  purity,  truth,  justice,  and  love,  not 
for  His  own  sake,  not  seeking  His  own  glory,  but  seeking 


444  APPENDIX 

to  open,  both  by  His  person,  presence,  actions,  words,  and 
fidelity,  the  spiritual  kingdom  of  God  to  men's  under- 
standings —  in  short,  it  is  the  moral  nature  of  God  man- 
ifest in  the  flesh  —  to  "  follow  "  Him,  to  "  learn  of  " 
Him,  to  become  His  "  disciple  "  or  pupil,  to  "  put  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  to  be  "  hid  in  Him,"  to  have  not  our 
own  natural  rectitude,  but  "  that  rectitude  or  righteous- 
ness which  is  by  faith  in  Him,"  to  assume  His  "  yoke  and 
burden  "  —  all  these  and  a  multitude  of  other  terms 
clearly  interpret  the  meaning  of  faith  in  Christ,  or  receiv- 
ing Christ. 

I  do  not  teach  that  this  heart  of  Christ  presented  to 
men  "  gives  them  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God  ;  " 
that  the  ordinary  human  understanding  could  of  itself 
develop  the  energy  which  is  needed  for  the  revolution  of 
human  character  and  life.  I  teach  that  there  is  a  power 
behind  it  —  the  stimulating,  enlightening,  inspiring  spirit 
of  God  —  the  Holy  Ghost  —  and  that  this  view  of  Christ, 
when  set  home  upon  men  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  this  devel- 
opment of  the  Divine  nature  in  Christ,  "  is  the  wisdom 
of  God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation."  It  is 
asked  whether  I  limit  the  effect  of  Christ's  life  and  death 
to  its  relation  to  man,  and  whether  it  had  no  relation  to 
the  unseen  world,  to  the  law  of  God  in  heavenly  places, 
to  the  administration  of  justice  through  the  ages.  In  reply 
I  would  say,  that  I  cannot  conceive  of  the  emergence 
from  heaven  of  such  a  being  as  Christ,  upon  such  a  mis- 
sion, without  its  having  relations  to  the  procedures  of  the 
unseen  world.  There  are  some  passages  of  Scripture 
that  bear  strongly  to  that  view.  But  whatever  necessity 
there  was  for  Christ's  sacrifice  apart  from  its  influence 
on  man,  and  whatever  effect  it  may  have  had  on  Divine 
government,  that  part  of  the  truth  is  left  unexplained  in 
the  Word  of  God.  If  alluded  to,  as  I  am  inclined  to  think 
it  is,  it  is  left  without  expansion  or  solution.   The  Scrip- 


APPENDIX  445 

tures  declare  that  the  suffering  of  Christ  secured  the  re- 
mission of  sins.  They  do  not  say  how  it  secures  it.  The 
fact  is  stated,  but  not  the  reason  or  philosophy  of  it.  The 
Apostles  continually  point  to  Christ's  sufferings  —  they 
inspire  hope  because  Christ  has  suffered  ;  they  include 
in  their  commission  that  their  joyful  errand  is  to  an- 
nounce remission  of  sins  by  reason  of  Christ's  work. 
But  nowhere  do  I  see  any  attempt  to  reach  those  ques- 
tions of  modern  theology,  —  Why  was  it  necessary  ?  Ifow 
did  his  suffering  open  a  way  for  sinners  ?  I  regard  the 
statement  in  Romans  iii.  20-26  as  covering  the  ground 
which  I  hold,  and  as  including  all  that  is  known. 

"Therefore  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  there  shall  no 
flesh  be  justified  in  His  sight :  for  by  the  law  is  the 
knowledge  of  sin.  But  now  the  righteousness  of  God 
without  the  law  is  manifested,  being  witnessed  by  the 
law  and  the  prophets ;  even  the  righteousness  of  God 
which  is  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all 
them  that  believe  :  for  there  is  no  difference  :  for  all  have 
sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God  ;  being  justi- 
fied freely  by  His  grace  through  the  redemption  that  is 
in  Christ  Jesus :  whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  pro- 
pitiation through  faith  in  His  blood,  to  declare  His  right- 
eousness for  the  remission  of  sins  that  are  past,  through 
the  forbearance  of  God ;  To  declare,  I  say,  at  this  time 
his  righteousness  :  that  He  might  be  just,  and  the  justi- 
fier  of  him  which  believeth  in  Jesus." 

That  jDart  of  Christ's  mission,  or  that  part  of  the 
Atonement,  if  one  choose  that  phrase,  which  flames 
through  all  the  New  Testament,  and  which  can  be  un- 
derstood, is  that  moral  power  which  it  exerts  and  those 
effects  which,  through  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  produced 
by  it. 

[At  this  point  the  report  is  resumed.] 


446  APPENDIX 

FUTURE    PUNISHMENT 

I  will  say  a  few  words  on  the  subject  of  eschatology. 
I  believe  in  the  teaching  of  the  Scripture  that  conduct 
and  character  in  this  life  produce  respectively  beneficial 
or  detrimental  effects,  both  in  the  life  that  now  is  and  in 
the  life  that  is  to  come  ;  and  that  a  man  dying  is  not  in 
the  same  condition  on  the  other  side,  whether  he  be  bad 
or  whether  he  be  good ;  but  that  consequences  follow 
and  go  over  the  border ;  and  that  the  nature  of  the  con- 
sequences of  transgression  —  that  is,  such  transgression 
as  alienates  the  man  from  God  and  from  the  life  that  is 
in  God  —  such  consequences  are  so  large,  so  dreadful, 
that  every  man  ought  to  be  deterred  from  venturing  upon 
them.  They  are  so  terrible  as  to  constitute  the  founda- 
tion of  urgent  motives  and  appeal  on  the  side  of  fear, 
holding  men  back  from  sin,  or  inspiring  them  with  the 
desire  of  righteousness.  That  far  I  hold  that  the  Scrip- 
tures teach  explicitly.  Beyond  that  I  do  not  go,  on  the 
authority  of  the  Scriptures.  I  have  my  own  philosoph- 
ical theories  about  the  future  life ;  but  what  is  revealed 
to  my  mind  is  simply  this  :  The  results  of  a  man's  con- 
duct reach  over  into  the  other  world  on  those  that  are 
persistently  and  inexcusably  wicked,  and  man's  punish- 
ment in  the  life  to  come  is  of  such  a  nature  and  of  such 
dimensions  as  ought  to  alarm  any  man  and  put  him  off 
from  the  dangerous  ground  and  turn  him  toward  safety. 
I  do  not  think  we  are  authorized  by  the  Scriptures  to  say 
that  it  is  endless  in  the  sense  in  which  we  ordinarily 
employ  that  term.  So  much  for  that,  and  that  is  the 
extent  of  my  authoritative  teaching  on  that  subject. 

FAREWELL 

Now,  Christian  brethren,  allow  me  to  say  that  these 
views  which  I  have  opened  to  you,  and  which  of  course, 


APPENDIX  447 

in  preaching  in  the  pulpit,  take  on  a  thousand  various 
forms,  under  differing  illustrations,  and  for  the  different 
purposes  for  which  I  am  preaching  —  allow  me  to  say 
these  views  have  not  been  taken  up  suddenly.  I  might  as 
well  say  my  hair  was  suddenly  got  up  for  the  occasion, 
or  that  my  bones  I  got  manufactured  because  I  wanted 
to  go  somewhere.  Why,  they  are  part  of  my  life  and 
growth.  I  have  not  varied  in  the  general  line  or  direc- 
tion from  the  beginning  to  this  day  —  like  a  tree  that 
grows  and  diversifies  its  branches,  but  is  the  same  tree, 
the  same  nature.  So  I  teach  now  with  more  fullness  and 
with  more  illustrations  and  in  a  clearer  light  what  I 
taught  forty  years  ago.  It  is  not  from  love  of  novelty  that 
I  vary  in  anything.  I  do  not  love  novelty  as  such,  but  I 
do  love  truth.  I  am  inclined  to  sympathize  with  the 
things  that  have  been  :  reverence  for  the  past  lies  deep 
in  my  nature.  It  has  not  been  from  any  desire  to  sepa- 
rate myself  from  the  teachings  of  my  brethren  in  the 
Christian  ministry.  I  should  rather  a  thousand  times  go 
with  them  than  go  against  them,  though  if  I  am  called 
to  go  against  them  I  have  the  courage  to  do  it,  no  mat- 
ter what  the  consequences  may  be.  I  have  endeavored, 
through  stormy  times,  through  all  forms  of  excitement, 
to  make  known  what  was  the  nature  of  God  and  what 
He  expected  human  life  to  be,  and  to  bring  to  bear  upon 
that  one  point  every  power  and  influence  in  me.  I  have 
nothing  that  I  kept  back  —  neither  reason,  nor  wit,  nor 
humor,  nor  experience,  nor  moral  sensibility,  nor  social 
affection.  I  poured  my  whole  being  into  the  ministry 
with  this  one  object :  to  glorify  God  by  lifting  man  up 
out  of  the  natural  state  into  the  pure  spiritual  life.  In 
doing  this  I  have  doubtless  alienated  a  great  many.  The 
door  has  been  shut,  and  sympathy  has  been  withheld.  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  a  great  many  of  the  brethren 
of  the  Congregational  faith  would  speak  more  than  dis- 


448  APPENDIX 

approval,  and  that  many  even  in  the  association  to  which 
I  belong  feel  as  though  they  could  not  bear  the  burden 
of  responsibility  of  being  supposed  to  tolerate  the  views 
I  have  held  and  taught,  and  as  a  man  of  honor  and 
a  Christian  gentleman  I  cannot  afford  to  lay  on  any- 
body the  responsibility  of  my  views.  I  cannot  afford 
especially  to  put  them  in  such  a  position  that  they 
are  obliged  to  defend  me.  I  cannot  make  them  re- 
sponsible in  any  way,  and  therefore,  I  now  here,  and 
in  the  greatest  love  and  sympathy,  lay  down  my  mem- 
bership of  this  Association  and  go  forth  —  not  to  be 
separated  from  you.  I  shall  be  nearer  to  you  than  if  I 
should  be  in  ecclesiastical  relation.  I  will  work  for  you, 
I  will  lecture  for  you,  I  will  personally  do  everything  I 
can  for  you.  I  will  even  attend  these  meetings  as  a 
spectator,  with  you.  I  will  devote  my  whole  life  to  the 
Congregational  churches  and  their  interests,  as  well  as 
to  all  other  churches  of  Christ  Jesus.  I  am  not  going 
out  into  the  cold.  I  am  not  going  out  into  another  sect. 
I  am  not  going  away  from  you  in  any  spirit  of  dis- 
gust. I  never  was  in  warmer  personal  sympathy  with 
every  one  of  you  than  I  am  now ;  but  I  lay  down  the 
responsibility  that  you  have  borne  for  me  —  I  take  it 
off  from  you  and  put  it  on  myself.  And  now  you  can 
say,  "  He  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church, 
but  he  has  relieved  his  brethren  of  all  responsibility 
whatever  for  his  teachings."  That  you  are  perfectly 
free  to  do.  With  thanks  for  your  great  kindness  and 
with  thanks  to  God  for  the  life  which  we  have  had  here 
together,  I  am  now  no  longer  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational Association  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  but 
with  you  a  member  of  the  Body  of  Christ  Jesus,  in  full 
fellowship  with  you  in  the  matter  of  faith  and  love  and 
hope. 


APPENDIX  449 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Beecher's  address,  after  some  in- 
formal debate,  a  committee  of  three,  consisting  of 
Messrs.  H.  M.  Storrs,  W.  C.  Stiles,  and  A.  Whittemore, 
was  appointed  to  draft  a  resolution  expressive  of  the 
sentiments  of  the  Association,  which,  as  finally  amended, 
was  carried  without  a  dissenting  voice.  It  was  as 
follows :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  Association  receive  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  resignation  of  his  membership  in  this  body 
with  very  deep  pain  and  regret.  We  cannot  fail  to 
recognize  the  generous  magnanimity  which  has  led  him 
to  volunteer  this  action,  lest  he  should  seem  even  indi- 
rectly to  make  his  brethren  responsible  before  the  public 
for  the  support  of  philosophical  and  theological  doctrines 
wherein  he  is  popularly  supposed  to  differ  essentially 
with  those  who  hold  the  established  and  current  Evan- 
gelical faith.  His  full  and  proffered  exposition  of  doc- 
trinal views  that  he  has  made  at  this  meeting  indicates 
the  propriety  of  his  continued  membership  in  this  or  any 
other  Congregational  Association.  We  hereby  declare 
our  desire  that  he  may  see  his  way  clear  to  reconsider 
and  withdraw  it.  We  desire  to  place  on  record  as  the 
result  of  a  long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  Mr. 
Beecher,  and  a  familiar  observation  of  the  results  of  his 
life,  as  well  as  his  preaching  and  pastoral  work,  that  we 
cherish  for  him  an  ever-growing  personal  attachment  as 
a  brother  beloved,  and  a  deepening  sense  of  his  worth 
as  a  Christian  minister.  We  cannot  now  contemplate 
the  possibility  of  his  future  absence  from  our  meetings 
without  a  depressing  sense  of  the  loss  we  are  to  suffer, 
and  unitedly  pledge  the  hearts  of  the  Association  to  him, 
and  express  the  hope  that  the  day  for  his  return  may 
soon  come. 


INDEX 


Abolitionists,  Beecher  not  one 
of,  155. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  quoted, 
230,  246. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  on  slavery 
and  the  Constitution,  151. 

Adams,  Sarah,   90. 

Alford,  5. 

America,  size  and  population  in 
1834,  39. 

American  Board,  when  organ- 
ized, 7,  9. 

American  Home  Missionary  So- 
ciety, 9. 

American  Tract  Society,  silence 
on  slavery,  191. 

Amherst  College,  34,  36,  39,  156. 

Anglo-Romanism,  4. 

Anti-slavery,  issue  in  1847,  133  ; 
Convention,  136  ;  cause  es- 
poused, 156  ;  Society,  186,  193  ; 
campaign,  195-223. 

Armitage, Rev.  Dr., on  "Beecher 
as  a  Man,"  325. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  111. 

Arnold,  Thomas,  5. 

Arnot,  William,  quoted,  117. 

Bacon,  Leonard,  an  editor  of 
"  The  Independent,"  158,  288  ; 
presides  over  Council,  295. 

Barnes,  Albert,  why  put  on 
trial,  9. 

Barnum,  P.  T.,  214. 

Bates,  Erastus  N.,  vice-modera- 
tor of  Council,  295. 

Beecher,  Catharine,  sister  of 
Henry  Ward,  educator,  25 ; 
quoted,  29. 


Beecher,  Charles,  musical  col- 
laborator of  his  brother,  26. 

Beecher,  Dr.  Edward,  college 
president  and  pastor,  25,  110. 

Beecher,  Harriet,  sister  of 
Henry  Ward,  25.  See  also 
Stowe. 

Beecher,  Harriet  E.,  daughter 
of  Henry  Ward,  48. 

Beecher,  Henry  Barton,  son  of 
Henry  Ward,  48. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  real  life 
begins  as  spiritual  experience 
in  Ohio  woods,  1 ;  prophet  of 
love,  10 ;  his  views  of  Christ, 
13,  14  ;  birth  of,  16 ;  his  boy- 
hood, 29-34 ;  enters  Amherst 
College,  34 ;  graduates  from^ 
39 ;  at  Lane  Theological  Semi- 
nary, 42,  46 ;  goes  to  Law- 
renceburg,  Indiana,  46 ;  mar- 
riage and  children,  48  ;  ordina- 
tion, 48,  49  ;  preaching  at  Law- 
renceburg,  50  ;  goes  to  Indian- 
apolis, 55,  67  ;  his  study  of  , 
men,  61,  109  ;  his  preaching, 
63,  118,  124  ;  his  "  Lectures  to 
Young  Men,"  63-66;  caUed 
to  Park  Street,  Boston,  and  to 
Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn, 
71 ;  accepts  the  latter,  74  ;  let- 
ter quoted  on  his  purpose  in 
the  ministry,  74  ;  first  sermon 
in  Plymouth  Church,  75  (first 
evening  sermon,  158) ;  as  pas- 
tor of  Plymouth  Church,  100- 
132  ;  personalappearance,  100 ; 
his  elocutionary  power,  104- 
106 ;   his  rhetoric,   107 ;   as   a 


452 


INDEX 


scholar,  110  ;  student  of  the 
'^  Bible,  115 ;  specially  of  the 
New  Testament,  116, 117  ;  his 
method  of  preaching,  119  ; 
why  a  Congregationalist,  123  ; 
an  emotional  preacher,  1!27  ;  a 
mystic,  128  ;  his  imagination, 
129  ;  his  prayers,  130  ;  his  atti- 
tude toward  the  abolitionists, 
153-155  ;  his  attitude  toward 
slavery,  156-194 ;  auction  of 
slave  girls,  160-162 ;  editorial 
in  "Independent,"  on  "Shall 
We  Compromise  ?  "  167  ; 
American  slavery  and  Hebrew 
slavery  contrasted,  172-174 ; 
free  system  of  North  and 
slave  system  of  South  con- 
trasted, 175,  176;  duty  of 
North,  177-179  ;  duty  of  North 
toward  Fugitive-Slave  Law  in 
particular,  180,  189;  duty  of 
the  Church  to  slavery,  189- 
194 ;  the  Anti-Slavery  Cam- 
paign, 195-222 ;  Kansas-Ne- 
braska Bill,  202 ;  in  the  Fre- 
mont campaign,  205 ;  on 
the  Free  Soilers,  210-212  ; 
"  Against  a  Compromise  of 
Principle,"  231;  on  Sumter, 
237  ;  preaches  on  "  The  Na- 
tional Flag,"  238;  editor  of 
"The  Independent,"  240; 
urges  emancipation,  241 ;  goes 
to  Europe,  242;  his  English 
speeches,  253-263 ;  his  recep- 
tion home,  264;  Sumter  flag- 
raising,  264-266 ;  on  recon- 
struction, 271  ;  the  Cleveland 
letters,  272,  282-287 ;  for  uni- 
versal suffrage,  276 ;  trial  of, 
288,  289;  his  "Yale  Lectures 
on  Preaching,"  301,  353-373; 
"  Silver  Wedding  "  of  his  pas- 
torate, 301  ;  his  lecture  tours, 
304  ;  his  Richmond  experience, 
305,  306 ;  on  public  schools, 
308 ;   on  the  Irish  cause,  308 ; 


on  the  Chinese  question,  308  ; 
prohibition,  308  ;  on  the  Jews, 
308 ;  campaigns  for  Grant, 
Hayes,  and  Cleveland,  308, 
309  ;  a  free-trader,  310  ;  three 
epochs  in  his  preaching,  312  ; 
an  evolutionist,  313-323;  not 
a  Universalist  or  Unitarian, 
320  ;  later  views  of  the  Bible, 
320;  withdraws  from  Congre- 
gational Association,  321 ;  his 
"  Bible  Studies  "  and  "  Evolu- 
tion and  Religion,"  323;  severs 
connection  with ' '  The  Christian 
Union,"  324  ;  at  the  Brooklyn 
New  England  dinners,  325 ; 
seventieth  birthday,  325 ;  as 
editor  and  author,  328-352; 
a  great  editorial  writer,  338 ; 
"  Life  of  Christ,"  344  ;  "  Star 
Papers,"  344;  his  style,  349; 
student  of  Ruskin,  Homer, 
Milton,  and  Dante,  351 ;  rank 
of  his  writings,  351 ;  his  "  Yale 
Lectures  on  Preaching,"  353- 
373  ;  on  prayer,  367  ;  compara- 
tive value  of  his  books,  372 ; 
revisits  England,  374  ;  returns 
to  America,  375  ;  resumes  work 
on  his  "  Life  of  Christ,"  375  ; 
his  last  service  in  Plymouth 
Church,  376  ;  his  illness  and 
death,  377 ;  the  funeral,  378- 
380;  his  statue  in  City  Hall 
Park,  380;  portrait  in  bas- 
relief  in  Plymouth  Church, 
380 ;  estimates  and  impres- 
sions, 386-417  ;  variety  of  his 
interests,  387 ;  his  oratory^ 
compared  with  that  of  the 
other  great  orators  of  his  day, 
396 ;  author's  impressions  of 
Beecher's  oratory,  403;  of 
his  private  life,  406 ;  some 
letters,  411,  412  ;  his  sincerity, 
416;  effect  of  his  preaching 
on  a  slave-holder,  417. 
Beecher,  Lyman,  restatement  of 


INDEX 


453 


orthodox  doctrine,  9  ;  sermon 
on  "The  Bible  a  Code  of 
Laws,"  quoted,  lo  ;  autobio- 
graphy referred  to,  Kj  ;  as  a 
preacher,  17-22  ;  accepts  call 
to  Lane  Theological  Seminary, 
42  ;  lectureship  named  for  him 
at  Yale  College,  353. 

Beecher,  Mrs.  Henry  Ward,  48, 
377. 

Beecher  Memorial  Association, 
382. 

Beecher  Memorial  Church,  381. 

Beecher,  Roxanna  Foote,  mo- 
ther of  Henry  Ward,  16 ; 
character  of,  22-24. 

Beecher,  Thomas  K.,  his  work, 
2(3. 

Beecher,  William  C,  son  of 
Henry  Ward,  48. 

Bell,  Geo.  A.,  quoted,  302. 

Bentham,  4. 

Bible,  11,  13  ;  Beecher's  use  of, 
115,  117;  modern  views  of, 
315,  316. 

Birney,  James  G.,  146, 155. 

Blackwell,  Lucy  Stone,  216. 

Bonner,  345. 

Bowen,  Henry  C,  158,  289. 

Broad  Church  Movement,  5. 

Broadway  Tabernacle,  159. 

"  Brooklyn  Eagle  "  quoted,  91. 

Brooklyn  in  1S47,  72. 

Brooks,  PhiUips,  5,  389,  396-402. 

Brown,  John,  147,  213. 

Browning,  Mrs.,  90. 

Bryant,  Wm.  C,  90. 

Buchanan,  President,  his  presi- 
dency at  time  of  great  na- 
tional crisis,  223. 

Bullard,  Miss  Eunice,  becomes 
Mrs.  Beecher,  48. 

Burke,  37. 

Burns,  Robert,  Mr.  Beecher 
quoted  on,  215. 

Bushnell,  Horace,  prophet-  of 
faith,  10;  philosophy  he 
taught,  11,  34,  371. 


Calhoun,  John  C,  remark 
about  Beecher,  170,  177. 

Calvin,  John,  6. 

Calvinists,  12. 

Carlyle,  129. 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  304. 

Channing,  89. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  155,  204. 

Cheever,  Geo.  B.,  214. 

Christ,  1-3,  13,  15,  18  ;  Beecher 
a  preacher  of,  118,  123,  126, 
128,  193,  242,  .243 ;  and  non- 
resistance,  210  ;  "  Life  "  of,  by 
Beecher,  300,  344,  34(J-349; 
various  "  Lives  "  of,  347,  348. 

ChristUeb,  124. 

"  Christian  Union,  The,"  Beech- 
er's analysis  of  seventh  of  Ro- 
mans, printed  in,  117 ;  his 
prayers  in,  131  ;  founded, 
290,  300  ;  Mr.  Beecher  with- 
draws from,  324  ;  his  purpose 
in,  333-336,  338;  success  of, 
339. 

"Church  Union,  The,"  pur- 
chased for  founding  "  The 
Christian  Union,"  332. 

Church,  amusements  in,  215  ;  of 
England  at  beginning  of  nine- 
teenth century,  4 ;  Congrega- 
tional, 81-83 ;  Institutional, 
261  ;  Methodist,  aggressive 
piety  of,  4,  6,  136  ;  Plymouth, 
see  Plymouth  Church  ;  Pres- 
byterian, 136;  Puritan,  4. 

Church,  the,  and  slavery,  75, 
136, 146,  189-195. 

Cincinnati,  40,  41. 

"  Cincinnati  Gazette,"  328. 

"  Cincinnati  Journal,  The," 
Beecher  writes  for,  328. 

Civil  War,  223-243;  Buchan- 
an's administration  and,  223- 
226 ;  Lincoln's  earliest  atti- 
tude toward,  228 ;  Mr. 
Beecher's  final  declarations 
against  compromise,  231- 
237 ;  Plymouth  Church  and  the 


454 


INDEX 


Civil  War,  238  ;  England  and, 
244-248 ;  Beecher's  presenta- 
tion of  the  war  issues  in  Eng- 
land, 230-263. 

Claflin,  Horace  B.,  294. 

Clarkson,  136. 

Clay,  Henry,  his  compromise 
measures,  and  his  character, 
162. 

Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  198. 

"Cleveland  Letters,"  as  con- 
taining Beecher's  views  on  re- 
construction, 272  ;  the  letters 
discussed,  282-287. 

Collyer,  Robert,  on  "Mr. 
Beecher  as  a  Man,"  325. 

Conant,  Thomas  J.,  110. 

Congregationalism,  principle  of, 
82. 

Constitution,  Beecher  student 
of,  110,  151-153,  164-169,  177, 
180-183. 

Conybeare,  5. 

Cotton-gin,  137. 

Council,  the  great  Congrega- 
tional, held  in  Plymouth 
Church,  295,  296. 

Curtis,  George  William,  his  ora- 
tory, 396-398. 

Cutter,  William  T.,  secures  in- 
vitation to  Mr.  Beecher  to 
come  East,  73. 

Cuyler,  Theodore  F.,  214. 

D'Alembert,  8. 

Dana,  Professor  J.  D,,  325. 

Dante,  111. 

Darwin,    "Origin  of    Species," 

314. 
Dawes,  Senator  Henry  L.,  325. 
Declaration    of    Independence, 

136. 
Dingley,  Nelson,  vice-moderator 

of  Council,  295. 
Dog  Noble,  Anecdote  of,   206, 

207. 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  199. 
Douglass,  Frederick,  145. 


Dunn's  "  Indiana,"  52. 
Dwight,  Pres.  Timothy,  7;  his 
restatement  of  doctrine,  9. 

Edersheim,   "Life  of  Christ," 

348. 
Edmonson    girls,    purchase    of, 

from  slavery,  162. 
Eggleston,  Edward,  quoted,  114. 
Ellicott,  5. 

Emancipation,  Beecher  on,  241. 
Emigrant  Aid  Company,  208. 
Emmons,  last  of  merely  logical 

preachers,  10. 
Erskine,  5. 
Evolution,  314. 
"  Evohition  and  Religion,"  307, 

313, 

Faber,  F.  W.,  90. 

Farrar,  F.  W.,  5. 

Fillmore,  President,  quoted,  197, 
204. 

Finney,  Charles  G.,  his  faith  in 
a  new  theology,  9  ;  the  pro- 
phet of  hope,  10  ;  power  of,  12, 
117,  397,  401. 

Fiske,  John,  404. 

Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert,  331, 
339. 

Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
timid  on  slavery,  191 . 

Fowler,  the  phrenologist,  quot- 
ed, 100. 

Fremont,  John  C,  205. 

Fulton,  Rev.  Dr.,  on  "Beecher 
as  a  Man,"  325. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  and 
"  The  Liberator,"  143-148, 
155,  196. 

Geikie's  "  Life  of  Christ,"  348. 

Gladstone,  245  ;  his  oratory,  396, 
397. 

God,  1,  3 ;  no  mere  hypothesis, 
11 ;  Puritan  conception  of,  13, 
15,  129;  sermon  on  "The 
Gentleness  of,"  195. 


INDEX 


455 


Gough,   John  B.,   his    oratory, 

396-399. 
Grant,  General,  229,  2(58. 
Greeley,  Horace,  196,  247. 
Guion,  Madame,  90. 

HaU,  Dr.  Chas.  H.,  quoted,  376, 

378. 
Hallaway's  "  Indianapolis,"  52  ; 

quoted,  54,  62. 
HaUiday,  Rev.  S.  B.,  103,  381. 
Harper     Brothers'    edition    of 

Beecher's  sermons,  120. 
Harper,  Mr.  Fletcher,  342. 
Hayes,  President,  325. 
Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth, 

209. 
Higher  criticism,  116. 
Hilliard,  George  S.,  196. 
HiUis,  Newell  Dwight,  382. 
Hohnes,  Oliver  Wendell,  325. 
Home    Missionary    Society,    9, 

note  ;  and  slavery,  191. 
Hopkins,  Mark,  325. 
"  How    to    Become     a    Chris- 
tian?" quoted,  97. 
Howard,  John  R.,  quoted,  172, 

332. 
Howson,  5. 
Hunt,  Seth  B.,  158. 
Huxley,  Thomas  H.,  111. 

"Independent,  The,"  158,178, 
202  ;  Beecher,  editor  of,  240, 
288,  329,  332. 

Indiana,  52,  135. 

"  Indiana  Journal,  The,"  60, 
328. 

Indianapolis,  50,  .59,  67. 

Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  7. 

Intemperance,  7,  75. 

James,  Professor  William,  124. 

Jewett,  Dr.,  of  Terre  Haute, 
59. 

Johnson,  President,  283. 

Johnson,  Oliver,  quoted  on  Gar- 
rison, 143. 


Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  199. 
Keble,  John,  4. 
Kingsley,  5. 

Kossuth,  198;  in  Plymouth 
Church,  214. 

Lane  Theological  Seminary, 
Lyman  Beecher  goes  to,  41  ; 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  student 
in,  42,  46. 

Lawrenceburg,  46,  49. 

"Lectures  to  Young  Men,"  63, 
118. 

"  Liberator,  The,"  143, 148,  209. 

"  Life  of  Christ,"  300,  344,  346- 
349. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  136,  155, 
171 ;  at  Cooper  Union,  222, 
223 ;  letter  to  Washburn, 
quoted,  228  ;  was  Beecher  ad- 
viser of?  229;  letter  to 
Greeley,  247  ;  amnesty  procla- 
mation, 265. 

Litchfield,  Conn.,  birthplace  of 
Beecher,  16  ;  society  of,  28, 

Locke,  philosophy  of,  in  Eng- 
land, 4. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  90 

Low,  Hon.  Seth,  325. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  90. 

Luther,  5. 

Lutherans,  disavow  Luther's 
theory  of  secret  counsel,  12. 

Mabie,   Hamilton    W.,   quoted, 

253. 
Marshall,  John,  his  slight  legal 

training,  45. 
Martineau,  Miss,  90. 
Martineau,  James,  247. 
Mason  and  Dixon's   Line,  137- 

141. 
Mason  and  Slidell,  capture  of, 

240. 
Matthew,  Father,  214. 
Maudsley,  utilitarianism  of,  4. 
Maurice,  5. 
May,  Samuel  J.,  196. 


456 


INDEX 


Mill,  utilitarianism  of,  4. 

Milmau,  Dean,  116. 

Milton,  111 ;  Beecher  student  of 
his  political  essays,  351. 

Merriam,  Geo.  S.,  quoted,  339. 

Missouri  Compromise,  200. 

Moody,  Dwight  L.,  his  proposi- 
tion to  Mr.  Beecher,  190. 

Mulford,  Elisha,  5. 

Munger,  T.  T.,  5. 

Neilson,  Judge  Joseph,  presides 
at  seventieth  birthday  cele- 
bration of  Mr.  Beecher,  225. 

Nettleton,  9,  104. 

Newman,  John  Henry,  4, 

New  Testament,  Beecher's  chief 
study,  IIG. 

"Norwood,"  novel  by  Beecher, 
300. 

Ordinance  of  1787  and  slavery, 

53. 
Oxford  Movement,  4. 

Paine,  Thomas,  popularity  of,  in 

his  time,  7. 
Park,  Dr.  Edwards  A.,  quoted, 

107. 
Parker,  Joseph,  Beecher  writes 

to,  375. 
Parker,  Theodore,  Mr.  Beecher 

on  views  of,  14, 196. 
"  Patriotic  Addresses,"  volume 

referred  to,  172. 
Payson,     Edward,     sermon    on 

"Jehovah  a  King,"   quoted, 

13. 
Pettigrew,    James    L.,   quoted, 

225. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  155  ;  quoted, 

209,    214,    325;     his   oratory, 

39(5,  397. 
Phrenology,  61. 
Pierce,  President  Franklin,  198, 

204. 
Pierpont,  John,  90. 
Plymouth    Church,    sketch    of, 


72-99 ;  orthodox  theological 
position  of,  83  ;  music  of,  89  ; 
Mr.  Beecher's  purpose  for,  91 ; 
revivals  in,  92-99 ;  by  whom 
organized,  158 ;  growth  of, 
160 ;  rifles  pledged  in,  211 ; 
notabilities  there,  218-220 ; 
threatened  by  mob,  221 ;  in- 
vestigation of  Tilton  charges, 
293 ;  council  called  by,  295  ; 
membership  of  Plymouth 
Church  during  the  trial,  297  ; 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of, 
301  ;  churches  named  after, 
382  ;  Mr.  Beecher's  portrait  in 
bas-relief  in,  382  ;  Plymouth 
Church  the  most  vital  memo- 
rial to  Beecher,  383  ;  Sunday- 
schools  of,  385. 

Plymouth  collecition  of  hymns, 
90. 

Polk,  President,  204. 

Pond,  Major  J.  B.,  304,  374, 
391,  392. 

Porter,  Harriet  F.,  stepmother 
of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  her 
character,  24,  25. 

Porter,  President  Noah,  296. 

"  Preaching,  Yale  lectures  on," 
353-373. 

Reconstruction,  268-287 ;  the 
Fort  Sumter  address  on,  272- 
276 ;  the  Cleveland  letters  on, 
282-287. 

Reformation,  the,  5. 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  325. 

Rhodes,  James  Ford,  quoted  on 
slavery,  138,  note,  199. 

Robertson,  F.  W.,  5. 

Rousseau,  8. 

Sabatier,  quoted,  332. 

Sage,   Henry  W.,   294;   founds 

Lyman  Beecher  lectureship  at 

Yale  College,  353. 
Scott,  Winfield,  198. 
Scoville,  Rev.  Samuel,  48. 


i 


INDEX 


457 


Seward,  William  H.,  136,  155, 
241. 

Slavery,  75 ;  origin  and  growth 
of,  135-142,  148;  Beecher's 
first  participation  in  question, 
156 ;  compromise  measures, 
163  ;  Fugitive-Slave  Law,  181- 
197. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  agnosticism 
of,  4,  111 ;  his  "  First  Princi- 
ples," 314 ;  Beecher  at  dinner 
to,  404,  405. 

Spurgeon,  Rev.  Charles  H.,  120. 

Stanley,  A.  P.,  5. 

"Star  Papers,"  344. 

Storrs,  Richard  S.,  158,  288  ;  at 
Beecher's  twenty-fifth  anni- 
versary, 302  ;  his  oratory,  396- 
401. 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  25,  26 ; 
quoted,  29,  32. 

Stringfellow,  210. 

Sturtevant,  Rev.  J.  M.,  296. 

Suffrage,  woman,  216,  276,  277  ; 
negro,  275-277 ;  note  on,  279  ; 
universal,  276. 

Sumner,  Charles,  2(M ;  struck 
down  by  Brooks,  213 ;  his  ora- 
tory, 398. 

Sumter,  Beecher's  address  at, 
272. 

Tappan,  Arthur,   g^t  to  Lane 

Seminary,  42. 
Thackeray,  111. 
Thompson,  Joseph  P.,  158,  288, 

329. 
Tilton,  Theodore,  288  ff. 
Tissot,  .349. 
Toombs,  Senator,  179. 


"  Tribune,"  N.  Y.,  quoted,  226. 
Trinity  Church,  Boston,  79. 
Tyndall,  John,  111. 
Tyng,   the   elder,   reference    to 
sermon  of,  17. 

Unitarian  revolt,  8. 

Vail,  Rev.  F.  Y.,  41. 
Valentine,  Lawson,  392. 
Voltaire,  8. 

Wade,  204. 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  145; 
note  on,  280. 

Watts,  90. 

Webster,  Daniel,  17  ;  argument 
for  slavery  compromise,  163- 
167 ;  Hulsemann  letter,  197 ; 
his  oratory,  396,  397. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  196. 

Wellman,  Dr.  J.  W.,  296. 

Wesley,  Charles,  90. 

"Western  Farmer  and  Gar- 
dener," 60,  328. 

White,  Andrew  D.,  325. 

Whittier,  John  G.,  90,  325. 

Wilberforce,  136. 

Wordsworth,  5. 

Xavier,  90. 


Yale  CoUege,  7. 

"Yale  Lectures  on  Preaching," 

114, 120  ;  when  delivered,  301  ; 

special  study  of,  353-373,  391. 


Zundel,  John,  88 


Electrotyped  and  printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &*  Co. 
Cambridge,   Mass.,  U.S.  A. 


Date  Due 


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